About David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville
David John Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville (born 24 October 1940) is a British politician, businessman and philanthropist. From 1992 to 1997, he served as chairman of Sainsbury's, the supermarket chain established by his great-grandfather John James Sainsbury in 1869. He was made a life peer in 1997 as a member of the Labour Party, and was on a leave of absence from the House of Lords from 15 July 2013 to his retirement in 2021. He served in the government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science and Innovation from 1998 and 2006. He is a major donor to the University of Cambridge and, in 2011, was elected Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He also made the largest real-terms donation in British political history, giving £8 million (equivalent to £11.6 million in 2025) to the Liberal Democrats in 2019, only surpassed in nominal-terms by the £9 million donation made by Christopher Harborne to Reform UK in 2025. == Early life and business career == The son of Sir Robert Sainsbury (1906–2000) and Lisa Ingeborg (née van den Bergh; 1912–2014), Sainsbury attended Eton College before going on to earn a degree in History and Psychology at King's College, Cambridge. He then completed an MBA at Columbia Business School in the United States. Sainsbury joined the family firm, then known as J. Sainsbury Ltd., in 1963, working in the personnel department. He became a director in 1966.
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