George F. Keane (October 7, 1929 - May 20, 2021) was an investment professional who has made contributions to the financing of United States higher education. He organized the Common Fund (now known as the Common Fund Group), a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

investment group designed to bring investment advice to higher education institutions that could otherwise not afford such services.Charles Elia, "Fund for Colleges, Universities Bucks Trend And Switches to Emphasis on Growth Stocks" '' Wall Street Journal'' April 28, 197

/ref>

Biography

Keane was born October 7, 1929, to Alexander Keane (a former minstrel singer) and Anna Krebs Keane, and raised in Danbury, Connecticut. He attended

Fairfield College Preparatory School Fairfield College Preparatory School (Fairfield Prep) is a Jesuit preparatory school located on the campus of Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. It is an all-male school of about 700 students, founded by the Society of Jesus in 1 ...

and Fairfield University. He then attended the

University of Pennsylvania School of Law The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Law or Penn Carey Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most ...

, where he met his first wife, Winifred Harbert Keane. They lived in

Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census. History ...

, and have three children, the oldest of whom is composer and producer

Brian Keane Brian Keane (born January 18, 1953) is a multi Emmy and Grammy award-winning American composer, music producer, and guitarist. Keane has been described as "a musician's musician, a composer's composer, and one of the most talented producers of a ...

. George Keane married Renée Bacal in 1982. Renée has three children from a previous marriage to Leonard Shwartz. They lived in

, and

Trumbull, Connecticut Trumbull is a town located in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders on the cities of Bridgeport and Shelton and the towns of Stratford, Fairfield, Easton and Monroe. The population was 36,827 during the 2020 census. Trumbul ...

, before retiring to University Park, Florida, near Sarasota, in 1997. George and Renée stayed happily married until she died in June 2013.

Career

Keane started his career with ten years as an officer of

TIAA-CREF The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA, formerly TIAA-CREF), is a Fortune 100 financial services organization that is the leading provider of financial services in the academic, research ...

, and three years as a member of the Higher Education consulting group at Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. At the Common Fund he served as

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

from its inception in 1971 until he was named President Emeritus and Senior Investment Adviser in 1993; he retired in 1996. Starting with a

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

grant in 1971, the Common Fund Group now serves more than 1,500 institutions who have invested over $40 billion.Vartanig G. Vartan "Fund diversity in managers" ''The New York Times'', February 18, 198

/ref> After his retirement from the Common Fund, he had an active second career, serving as Chairman of Veolia Environnement, Trigen Energy from 1994 until March 2000, when the company was taken private. He served as a Director of

United Negro College Fund UNCF, the United Negro College Fund, also known as the United Fund, is an American philanthropic organization that funds scholarships for black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private historically black colleges and universities ...

for twelve years, and helped organize SCUUL, a special purpose liability insurance company for educational institutions. He has served as a director of four

mutual fund A mutual fund is a professionally managed investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV i ...

companies, a

trust company A trust company is a corporation that acts as a fiduciary, trustee or agent of trusts and agencies. A professional trust company may be independently owned or owned by, for example, a bank or a law firm, and which specializes in being a trust ...

, a

steel company This is a list of the largest steel-producing companies in the world mostly based on the list by the World Steel Association. This list ranks steelmakers by volume of steel production in millions of tonnes and includes all steelmakers with producti ...

, a generic drug manufacturer, a co-generation company, and an oil & gas company. He was a member of the Investment Advisory Committee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund from 1985 to 2004, serving under three state comptrollers. After the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...

burst he advocated for the creation of a new index in place of the

S&P 500 The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices. As of ...

, and worked with

Research Affiliates Robert D. Arnott (born June 29, 1954) is an American entrepreneur, investor, editor and writer who focuses on articles about quantitative investing. He is the founder and chairman of the board of Research Affiliates, an asset management firm. R ...

in the development of the Fundamental Index. He was a trustee, vice chairman of the board, and member of the finance committee of Fairfield University, and served on the Investment committee of the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

. Keane has been awarded honorary doctorate degrees by Loyola University (Chicago) and

Lawrence University Lawrence University is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Appleton, Wisconsin. Founded in 1847, its first classes were held on November 12, 1849. Lawrence was the second college in the U.S. to be founded as a coeducati ...

for his contributions to higher education. He is the recipient of the Frederick D. Patterson award for his service as a director of the United Negro College Fund.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keane, George F. 1929 births 2021 deaths American investment bankers Fairfield University alumni University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni People from Westport, Connecticut People from Trumbull, Connecticut Fairfield College Preparatory School alumni