Gail Ruth Rebuck, Baroness Rebuck DBE (born 10 February 1952) is a British publisher and Chair of Penguin Random House UK.^[1] She has served as a Labour member of the House of Lords since 2014.

Early life and education

Rebuck's Latvian-born Jewish grandfather, and her own father, were both in the London rag trade. Her mother was a Dutch Jew.^[2]

At the age of four she was sent to the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, London, where she learned to read and write in French before she did in English.^[3] She graduated with a degree in intellectual history from Sussex University in 1974.^[4]

Career

Rebuck worked for several independent publishers and ran a paperback imprint for Hamlyn, before putting her own funds into a new imprint, Century. After a merger with Hutchinson in 1985, Century Hutchinson was taken over by Random House UK in 1989. Rebuck was appointed chair and chief executive of Random House UK in 1991.^[4]

Rebuck was fifth in a 2006 Observer list of the top people in the British books industry,^[5] and at ninth place in a 2011 Guardian version of the list.^[6] In February 2013, she was assessed as the tenth most powerful woman in the UK by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.^[7] She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2013.^[8]

In February 2015, Rebuck succeeded Sir Neil Cossons as pro-provost and chair of council (the governing body) at the Royal College of Art (RCA); she joined the RCA council in 1999.^[9]

Marriage

She was married to Philip Gould, until his death in November 2011. They had two daughters: Georgia Gould, who currently serves as leader of the Camden London Borough Council, and Grace Gould.^[10]

Honours

Rebuck was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours,^[4][11] and promoted to Dame Commander of the same Order (DBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.^[12][13]

In 2014, it was announced that Rebuck was to become a Labour peer in the House of Lords, following in the footsteps of her late husband. She was created a life peer on 18 September 2014, taking the title Baroness Rebuck, of Bloomsbury in the London Borough of Camden.^[14]