The Times - UK (2020-10-17)

the times | Saturday October 17 2020 1GM 39

Saturday interviewNews

flyers, including Mark Carney, former

governer of the Bank of England.

“Many people have faith. I like to use

that word because it implies

spiritualism and many don’t like the

term ‘religion’ because it implies

political history, wrinkles, control,

conflict, mismanagement. Faith is

much deeper.”

H

ow does he reconcile this

devotion to his pursuit of

Mammon? “As the

scriptures say, ‘Give to

Caesar what is Caesar’s

and give to God what is God’s.’ And I

actually take the view that if you have

Mammon, you’re there to allocate

resources and that capitalism is about

the dignity of work.”

In his twenties and thirties, “I was

in and out of relationships and never

marrying, because it was always the

church anchoring me. I had a fairly

good relationship with John Paul II

and said to him, ‘Do you think I

should consider going into the

priesthood? He looked at me and he

said, “You will be much more useful

to the church and to your faith if you

don’t become a priest. You must never

abandon Christ.’ ”

Mr Studzinski’s lifestyle is a mix of

the glamorous (he owns a Picasso and

Man Ray and marked turning 60 with

a three-day bash at Venice’s Gritti

Palace, where the soprano Joyce

DiDonato serenaded him with

Somewhere Over the Rainbow) and the

ascetic. A car accident at 23 left him

with an arm shattered in 60 pieces, a

shoulder broken in four pieces and a

lost lung (nine other people died).

“After that, I became very focused

on fitness. I get up in the morning at

4.15am and I pray and meditate for

about 45 to 60 minutes, then I look at

my emails and then I go to the gym

and exercise for between 60 and 90

minutes. I’m very careful what I eat,

and since Covid started, I’ve stopped

drinking alcohol because with one

lung I’m very aware it suppresses the

immune system.”

It’s this outsider perspective that

makes him — even after 40 years in

London — both a devoted Anglophile

and arts patron. “This is the culture of

William Shakespeare and as such the

cornerstone of global culture, it’s very

powerful, it really is but I think often

we ignore that, we take it for granted.”

He’s characteristically zen about the

virus’s long-term effect on the arts.

“Theatre’s been going in this country

for 1,000 years. Covid’s had winners

and losers and in the arts the people

that reinvent themselves, in a sort of

Charles Darwin mindset, will be the

winners.”

is worth having unless you share it’

John Studzinski,

known as Studz,

at his office in

central London.

He gives away

half his earnings

John Joseph Paul Studzinski

Curriculum vitae

Born March 19, 1956

Education Bowdoin College, Maine;

MBA in finance and marketing

from the University of Chicago

Career He joined Morgan

Stanley on Wall Street in 1980

and became the head of

European investment banking

and deputy chairman of Morgan

Stanley International before

moving to HSBC in 2003. He

founded the Genesis Foundation,

a charity for young artists, and

received the Prince of Wales

ambassador award for his work

with the homeless. In 2007 he was

voted banker of the year by the

Bank of England. The following

year he was appointed CBE for

services to the arts and charity.

Family Raised by Polish Catholic

parents in Boston. Divides his

time between America and

London.

Quick fire

Wine or water? Water

Pope Benedict or Pope

Francis? Both

Schitt’s Creek or an Alan

Bennett monologue at the

Bridge Theatre? Young Vic

JK Rowling or Elon Musk? JK

Rowling, left. She’s a great

philanthropist

Michelin-starred restaurant

or dinner at home? Dinner at

home, I can’t stand all the

candyfloss of Michelin-starred

places

KATIE WILSON FOR THE TIMES