George Rohr is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and President of NCH Capital Inc, a private equity firm.

Education and personal life

Rohr was born in 1954 in Bogota, Colombia to Sami Rohr and Charlotte Rohr. He graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

and received his MBA from Harvard Business School. As an undergraduate he was President of the

Harvard Lampoon ''The Harvard Lampoon'' is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Overview The ''Harvard Lampoon'' publication was founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates ...

during its 100th anniversary year in 1976. He and his wife Pamela L. Rohr live in New York City and

Bal Harbour, Florida Bal Harbour is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The population was 3,093 at the 2020 US Census. History Since the 1920s, the Detroit-based Miami Beach Heights Corporation—headed by industrialists Robert C. Graham, Walter O. Briggs ...

. They have four children.

NCH Capital

Since 1993 the NCH group of funds has been investing across asset classes in Eastern Europe and the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

on behalf of their institutional clients. Rohr began investing in the region shortly after the collapse of the

, and was among the earliest Western participants in the privatization opportunities offered by several of the region’s markets. In addition to its investments in real-estate, private equity and public securities, NCH is among the largest agribusiness investors in the Black Sea region. In 2010 NCH extended its investment operations to Latin America.

Philanthropy

Rohr’s principal philanthropic focus has been on Jewish education and literacy, particularly through initiatives such as the

Rohr Jewish Learning Institute The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) is a division of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. It offers adult Jewish courses on Jewish history, law, ethics, philosophy and ...

, the world's largest Jewish adult education network; the establishment of more than 150

Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic grou ...

Houses across college campuses in North America, and on the revival of Jewish communal life in Eastern Europe and the former

in partnership with

. He serves as chairman and principal benefactor of

Chabad on Campus International Foundation Chabad on Campus International is a division of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of the Chabad Lubavitch movement. It is one of the largest Jewish organizations serving college campuses, with over 185 permanent branches on North Ame ...

, the

(JLI), In 2006, Rohr and his sisters established the

Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature The Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature is an annual prize awarded to an outstanding literary work of Jewish interest by an emerging writer. Previously administered by the Jewish Book Council, it is now given in association with the National Libr ...

to honor, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, their father’s lifelong love of Jewish writing. The annual award recognizes the unique role of contemporary writers in the transmission and examination of the Jewish experience. The $100,000 prize is intended to encourage emerging writers whose work demonstrates a fresh vision and the promise of further growth. In conjunction with this award, Rohr established the Sami Rohr Jewish Literary Institute, a forum devoted to the continuity of Jewish literature. In 2022 the Sami Rohr Prize entered into an operating collaboration agreement with the

National Library of Israel The National Library of Israel (NLI; he, הספרייה הלאומית, translit=HaSifria HaLeumit; ar, المكتبة الوطنية في إسرائيل), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; he, בית הספרים הלא� ...

. Additionally, Rohr is a member of the Board of Trustees of the

Avi Chai Foundation The Avi Chai Foundation is a private foundation endowed in 1984 by Zalman Bernstein, a well-known successful investor and founder of Sanford Bernstein. Zalman Bernstein became a Modern Orthodox Baal teshuva In Judaism, a ''ba'al teshuvah'' ( h ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rohr, George 1954 births Living people Harvard Business School alumni The Harvard Lampoon alumni Jewish American philanthropists 21st-century American Jews