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Rupert Smith was born in 1958 in Springs, the son of an industrial chemist (who worked at the paper mill in town) and a high school teacher. He grew up in a suburb on the less affluent side of town, sharing a room with his brother who is two years older than him. Rupert went to an Afrikaans-medium primary school and an English high school. While he was growing up, he was a keen swimmer and tennis player.

After school Rupert studied at Wits, first completing a BA in languages (Afrikaans en Nederlands, English, Latin, Zulu and Russian) and then an LLB. He then spent two years in the South African Defence Force, attached to the Directorate of Language Services in Pretoria, where he taught English to foreign ambassadorial staff.

Rupert completed his Articles of Association with a major Johannesburg law firm, Deneys Reitz, and was admitted as an attorney in 1983. He became a partner and a member of the commercial law division of that firm, in which capacity he has had direct and continuous contact with big business, stock exchanges, the mining industry, and the captains of industry who run those.

Rupert is happily married, with two children. He lives in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, with an entire menagerie of pets: three labradors, one German shepherd, and one generally disaffected cat.

Rupert still plays tennis regularly, and his chief entertainments are reading and listening to music.

Opgedateer/Updated: 2010-12-08

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