By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-12 06:45:28 | Updated at 2025-03-12 13:00:41
6 hours ago
Richard Kauffman's sadness about his older brother's mysterious death never left him, but the lingering pain and questions had faded as the decades slipped by. Until the phone rang.
'Oh, boy! This is a really bizarre story,' he told the Daily Mail.
'For 40 to 50 years I had no contact with my brother so I just accepted that he had died from some sort of illness. And then I got that phone call.'
He was told by a reporter at the Los Angeles Times last year that a wealthy man by the name of Rothschild had died in a November house fire in Laurel Canyon, a haven for the city's artists and musicians since the 1960s. Might this man be his long lost brother?
Richard knew his brother as William Kauffman, who had disappeared after telling his family he was leaving their home state of Oregon for LA to pursue his passion for art.
So it made sense he'd be living in an artsy Los Angeles idyll, in a $1.2million hillside home adorned by a fleet of rare cars. William had always been obsessed with cars, and the victim was in his eighties, so the timeline added up too.
But officials had identified the dead man as William de Rothschild, who claimed to be part of the prominent Rothschild banking family. Richard knew of no family connection to the Rothschilds, so why was his missing brother posing as one?
In disbelief, he fixated on the memory of their unforgettable final conversation, which had been ricocheting through his mind all those years.
Los Angeles Fire Department officials said William de Rothschild, 87, was found dead after his Laurel Canyon home was consumed by a fast-moving fire on November 27, 2024
William Alfred Kauffman in his 1955 high school year book. He changed his name to William de Rothschild about 30 years later
'He seemed like he wanted to tell me something else but he was holding back. We had a couple of phone calls after he moved to Los Angeles and then he just disappeared,' Richard said.
'But the last call, I remember, was so strange because it sounded like he wanted to say something, but he never did. We hung up and I never heard from him again.'
The Rothschild connection perplexed him.
The secretive Rothschild dynasty had the world's largest private fortunes in the 19th century. Their golden era dwindled in the 20th century, but surviving family members still possess substantial fortunes.
Over the years, the name has been used by many imposters who have taken advantage of their mystique.
But the case of the man who died in a fire at his Los Angeles home may be one of the strangest.
Neighbors said the man they knew as De Rothschild had told them he was a member of the prestigious European family, whose fortune is worth billions of dollars.
However, he did not appear anywhere on the storied family's official genealogical records.
Neighbors, who lived next to De Rothschild on Lookout Mountain Avenue, also said he was a 'nice, good-looking older gentleman', who always dressed impeccably and had classic cars parked around his hillside home.
They said he was a quiet man and had a dog but no one had seen him or his pet in the months before the November fire.
The man who called himself De Rothschild moved to this hillside home in the famed artist enclave of Laurel Canyon. Neighbors said they would see the reclusive senior on walks and often spoke about his rare car collection
A family friend told the Daily Mail that De Rothschild was a 'brilliant and talented' artist who was a very private man.
The friend said De Rothschild's dog had died 10 months ago.
'He was absolutely dynamic,' the friend said. 'He read 24 hours a day and just knew everything. He was an absolute expert with classic cars. The only reason he talked about cars all the time was because it made him happy, and very interestingly, he didn't like to talk about himself.'
Richard, 78, agreed that the man who people knew as De Rothschild had many similarities with his long lost older brother.
'That sounds like him,' Richard said. 'He was always into cars when I knew him and he was always a sharp dresser. I mean, the person I knew sounds like the same person all of his neighbors have described. And yes, he was a very smart and talented guy.'
Neighbors also said that De Rothschild had donated some rare vehicles to the Petersen Automotive Museum in LA, but museum officials told the Daily Mail there were no records of any vehicle donations by the 87-year old.
A family friend has now revealed that some of the rare vehicles De Rothschild kept in pristine order for years will go under auction.
De Rothschild was born William Alfred Kauffman but he changed his name in 1985, according to Los Angeles Superior court records.
'I want to take my family name, that I prefer to Kauffman, it would simplify my life greatly, taking the name from my mother's side,' he wrote.
A judge granted the petition since there were no objections filed and he legally became William Alexander De Rothschild.
Yellow caution tape can still be found around De Rothschild home, which suffered significant damage. A car still sits on the driveway, which was one of the many the senior kept near the property
Richard, 78, said neither his mother nor father had any connection to the Rothschild lineage.
Before he moved to Los Angeles and settled at the Laurel Canyon home, De Rothschild lived in Eugene, Oregon where he grew up with his parents, William and Juanita, and younger brother Richard.
Records show he graduated from North Salem High School and then earned a Bachelors of Science in Psychology from the University of Oregon in 1962.
Richard said he remembered William, who was nine years older, was always crafting, sculpting or drawing something.
'He was a savant,' Richard said of his sibling. 'He always participated in art projects and was sculpting something. He had some art shows when he moved to California, but we never heard anything from him again.'
Richard said he and his parents never had a falling out with his brother. He remembers his parents mentioning that William was renting cars for the movie industry before he suddenly disappeared.
'I thought he might have had some sort of physical problem that he didn't want anyone to know about when he called. All these years I thought he had died.'
Richard said officials with the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's office contacted him about providing a DNA sample to confirm the man found in the burned Laurel Canyon home was his brother.
The test kit was sent to local Oregon police, who then collected a swab sample from Richard. The kit was then mailed securely back to the LA Medical Examiner's Office.
Richard said the results showed the man who went by the name William De Rothschild was definitely related to him.
He was positively identified using DNA records on January 28, according to the LA Medical Examiner's office.
A death certificate obtained by the Daily Mail showed De Rothschild died of hypertensive cardiovascular disease and 'inhalation of products of combustion'.
The certificate also showed De Rothschild was married to Margaux Mirkin, heir to the Budget Rent a-Car fortune founded by her father, Morris Mirkin.
Morris Mirkin opened the first Budget Rent-a-Car office at Wilshire and Robertson boulevards in Los Angeles in 1958.
De Rothschild's death certificate, obtained by the Daily Mail, revealed his birth name
Margaux would later open her own business venture called 'Drive A Dream', which rented out exotic cars.
'For $50 to $350 a day, plus 50 cents a mile, you can rent a Porsche, a Mercedes, a Rolls-Royce or a flashy replica of more dramatic models,' according to a 1980s advertisement for the business.
Richard said he has tried several times to reach out to Mirkin, but has not received a response.
According to the death certificate, De Rothschild was cremated.
While Los Angeles fire and police officials are still investigating the cause of the fire, Richard hopes Mirkin would be open to speak to him to help answer some questions.
Richard said he was told Mirkin was still upset about losing her husband but wanted to send her thanks for providing his DNA samples to authorities.
'I am the only one left who knew my brother before he changed his name, and she is the only one who can tell me about the last 40 to 50 years of his life,' Richard said.
'I don't know if Margaux ever knew that he was not a Rothschild because he had changed his name prior to them getting married. I'm giving her space to grieve and hopefully we can come to some understanding.'
Richard said he hopes that one day he will be able to see any sculptures or artwork left behind by his beloved brother.
'I came to terms with my brother's death a long time ago, so it's more a curiosity at this point,' Richard said. 'I am curious about what he did all of these years, and to maybe own one of this art to remind him by. He was so talented when I knew him and bet he was his whole life.'
