View source for Michael Hare, 2nd Viscount Blakenham

{{Short description|British noble (1938–2018)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox noble|type
| name              = Michael Hare
| title             = Viscount Blakenham
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| more              = no
| succession        =
| tenure            = 1982–2018
| reign-type        =
| predecessor       = [[John Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham|John Hugh Hare]]
| successor         = Caspar John Hare
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| module            = {{infobox person
| embed             = yes
| father            = [[John Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham]]
| mother            = Beryl Nancy Pearson
| relatives         = {{nowrap|[[Harold Pearson, 2nd Viscount Cowdray]] (grandfather)}}<br>[[Stephen Breyer]] (brother-in-law)
| birth_date        = 25 January 1938
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| death_date        = 8 January 2018 (aged 79)
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| religion          =
| occupation        = Environmentalist
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}}
}}
'''Michael John Hare, 2nd Viscount Blakenham''' (25 January 1938 – 8 January 2018), was a British [[hereditary peer]] and [[environmentalist]].
Blankenham was the son of [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] politician and government minister [[John Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham]] and Hon. Beryl Nancy Pearson, daughter of [[Harold Pearson, 2nd Viscount Cowdray]].<ref>[http://thepeerage.com/p3820.htm "Michael John Hare, 2nd Viscount Blakenham"] ThePeerage.com. Retrieved 2 May 2010.</ref>
After some time working for partly or wholly owned subsidiaries,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/obituary-viscount-blakenham-the-man-who-saw-off-rupert-murdoch-20180122-h0lxtt|title=Obituary: Viscount Blakenham, the man who saw off Rupert Murdoch|date=24 January 2018|website=Australian Financial Review}}</ref> he joined the senior management of [[Pearson plc]] (founded by his mother's ancestors) in 1977, and was managing director from 1978 to 1983, chief executive from 1978 to 1993, and chairman from 1983 to 1997.<ref>http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/b/4333/Michael+John.aspx {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}</ref><ref name="auto">Burke's Peerage 106th edition</ref><ref>Who's Who</ref> He also was Chief Executive (1983–93) and Chairman (1984–93) of the ''[[Financial Times]]'', then a Pearson subsidiary.
A lifelong environmentalist, Blakenham was chairman of the [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|Royal Botanical Gardens]] at [[Kew Gardens]] as well as Council Chairman of the [[Royal Society for the Protection of Birds]] between 1982 and 1986 and president of Suffolk Wildlife Trust from between 1983 and 1987. He continued to develop the Blakenham Woodland Garden, which was created by his father.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blakenhamwoodlandgarden.org.uk/about2.html |title=The gardens today |accessdate=2 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110910192702/http://www.blakenhamwoodlandgarden.org.uk/about2.html |archivedate=10 September 2011 }}</ref> He also owned the island of [[Little Colonsay]] in the [[Inner Hebrides]].<ref>{{Haswell-Smith}} p. 99</ref>
Blakenham lived in [[Suffolk]] and led the local political party [[Suffolk Together]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Suffolk Together|url=http://openelectoralcommission.org.uk/parties/PP648/suffolk-together/}}</ref> He represented the party as a member of [[Mid Suffolk|Mid Suffolk District Council]] from 2007 to 2015<ref>{{cite web|title=Member's Details|url=http://apps.csduk.com/CMISWebPublic/Member.aspx?personID=79|access-date=30 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320113743/http://apps.csduk.com/CMISWebPublic/Member.aspx?personID=79|archive-date=20 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> under the name '''Michael Blakenham'''. During the [[2014 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2014 European Parliament election]] he endorsed [[Rupert Read]], lead candidate on the [[Green Party of England and Wales|Green]] [[party-list proportional representation|list]] in the [[East of England (European Parliament constituency)|East of England]] constituency.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://eastern.greenparty.org.uk/news.html/2014/05/13/lord-blakenham,-jules-peck-and-hugh-kerr-endorse-the-green-party/|title=Lord Blakenham, Jules Peck and Hugh Kerr endorse the Green Party}}</ref>
Through his sister, Joanna Freda Hare, he was a brother-in-law of [[Stephen Breyer]], who served as a Justice of the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] from 1994 to 2022.<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/07/11/the-courtship-of-joanna-breyer/554d7b14-f842-4170-b42e-7666d0722497 {{dead link|date=June 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
==Family==
In January 1965 Blakenham married his 18-year-old first cousin, Marcia Persephone Hare<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ft.com/content/77a03122-e788-11e1-8686-00144feab49a|title=At home: Marcia Blakenham|date=24 August 2012}}</ref>
(her father, his father's brother the Hon Alan Hare (1919–1995),<ref name="auto"/> preceded him as head of the ''Financial Times'').
Lord and Lady Blakenham had a son and two daughters:
* His son and successor, [[Caspar John Hare, 3rd Viscount Blakenham]] (born 1972), a philosophy professor at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/casparh/www/|title=Caspar Hare's Webpage|website=web.mit.edu}}</ref> married Melissa Mohr and has two children:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/jsonline/name/june-mohr-obituary?id=3300411|title=June Mohr Obituary (2016) - Shorewood, WI - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|website=Legacy.com}}</ref>
**Thomasina
**Inigo
* author [[Cressida Cowell]] (born 1966),<ref>"Film based on little island" (5 April 2010) ''Press and Journal''. Aberdeen.</ref> married Simon John Cowell and has 3 children:
**Maisie
**Clementine
**Alexander
* artist Emily Faccini (born 1967), married [[Ben Faccini]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.emilyfaccini.com/ |title=Home |website=emilyfaccini.com}}</ref> and has 3 children:
**Francesco
**Delfina
**Bay
He died in January 2018 at the age of 79.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ft.com/content/ccff5f90-f54b-11e7-88f7-5465a6ce1a00|title=Michael Blakenham, former FT chairman who saw off Rupert Murdoch|date=9 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/suffolk-peer-michael-blakenham-has-died-1-5349574|title=Suffolk campaigner and business leader Michael Blakenham has died|date=10 January 2018}}</ref>
==External links==
*{{Hansard-contribs | mr-michael-hare | the Viscount Blakenham }}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{S-start}}
{{S-reg|uk}}
{{s-bef|before=[[John Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham|John Hugh Hare]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Viscount Blakenham]]|years=1982–2018}}
{{s-aft|after=Caspar John Hare}}
{{S-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blakenham, Michael Hare, 2nd Viscount Of}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:People from Mid Suffolk District]]
[[Category:Royal Society for the Protection of Birds people]]
[[Category:Financial Times people]]
[[Category:Hare family|Michael]]
[[Category:Hereditary peers removed under the House of Lords Act 1999|Blakenham]]