Richard "Rip" Rapson (born March 16, 1952) is an American attorney and philanthropist serving as CEO of

the Kresge Foundation The Kresge Foundation is a philanthropic private foundation headquartered in Troy, Michigan, United States. The foundation works to expand opportunities in America's cities through grantmaking and investing in arts and culture, education, enviro ...

. He began his career as a congressional aide to

Donald M. Fraser Donald MacKay Fraser (February 20, 1924 – June 2, 2019) was an American politician from Minnesota who served as U.S. Representative from Minnesota's 5th congressional district from 1963 to 1979 and as mayor of Minneapolis from 1980 to 1994. Ea ...

during Fraser's last two terms in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

. After attending Columbia Law School, Rapson joined the law firm of

Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English language, English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate from the Old High German ''Leonhard'' containing the prefix ''levon'' ("lion") from the Greek wikiwikiweb:Λέων, � ...

, Street & Deinard to practice law while also serving on the board of several organizations. In 1989, Fraser, who had become

mayor of Minneapolis This is a list of mayors of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The current mayor is Jacob Frey (DFL). Minneapolis From 1867 to 1878 mayors were elected for a 1-year term. Beginning in 1878 the term was extended to 2 years. As the city became larger and mor ...

, appointed Rapson as his deputy mayor and, in 1993, Rapson unsuccessfully ran for mayor to succeed Fraser. After leaving the

Minneapolis City Hall Minneapolis City Hall and Hennepin County Courthouse (also known as the Municipal Building), designed by Long and Kees in 1888, is the main building used by the city government of Minneapolis, as well as by Hennepin County, in the U.S. state of Mi ...

, Rapson became a fellow at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

and then was appointed president of the

McKnight Foundation The McKnight Foundation, a Minnesota-based family foundation, advances a more just, creative, and abundant future where people and planet thrive. Established in 1953, the McKnight Foundation is deeply committed to advancing climate solutions in ...

in Minneapolis. In 2006, he moved to the Detroit area to become CEO of the Kresge Foundation. He has led the foundation in a number of philanthropic endeavors to revitalize and rescue Detroit from bankruptcy.

Early life and education

Richard "Rip" Rapson was born on March 16, 1952, in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

, Germany, to Mary and

Ralph Rapson Ralph Rapson (September 13, 1914 – March 29, 2008) was Head of the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota for 30 years. He was one of the world's oldest practicing architects at his death at age 93, and also one of the most ...

. In 1954, the family moved to

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, where Ralph became head of the University of Minnesota School of Architecture and a prolific architect in the city. Mary said that their son was nicknamed Rip because he was "kicking and moving" even in the womb. He has a younger brother, Thomas ("Toby"), who also became an architect at their father's architectural firm. At

Marshall-University High School Marshall-University High School was a public junior high and high school serving grades 6–12 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school was founded in 1968 through a merger between John Marshall High School (a Minneapolis public school) and Univer ...

, Rip Rapson was a baseball pitcher, played basketball, tennis and learned to play the trumpet. He chose to attend

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

which he believed had a good tennis team. In 1974, he graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

from Pomona with a bachelor of arts degree in political science.

Career

After college, Rapson was hired by

Arvonne Fraser Arvonne Skelton Fraser (September 1, 1925 – August 7, 2018) was an American women's rights advocate and political campaigner. She held the position of Senior Fellow at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, and fro ...

, who ran her husband

's offices in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, when he served as a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from Minnesota. Rapson was a congressional aide from 1974 to 1978 during Fraser's last two terms in the U.S. congress. He worked as a liaison between Fraser's Washington office and his local district office in Minneapolis as well as contributing to the writing and passage of the

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act The BWCA Wilderness Act of 1978 (Pub.L. 95-495) created the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW or BWCA), which was previously known as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The bill was introduced in October 1975 by United States Congressman J ...

of 1978 to protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota. Rapson then graduated from Columbia Law School with a J.D. and joined the law firm of Leonard, Street & Deinard. He became a partner at the firm and remained there from 1981 to 1988. He also served on the Library Board, the Board of Estimates and Taxation, and the boards of 13 other organizations in the city during that period. On March 14, 1989, Fraser, who had become

, appointed Rapson as his deputy mayor, effective April 15, 1989, to succeed Jan Hively. As deputy mayor, Rapson was in charge of liaisoning with the

Minneapolis City Council The Minneapolis City Council is the lawmaking body of Minneapolis. It consists of 13 members, elected from separate wards to four-year terms, via a ranked-choice method. The council structure has been in place since the 1950s. In recent elections ...

. He was also responsible for the creation of a $400 million Neighborhood Revitalization Program and chaired its implementation committee. Rapson ran in the 1993 Minneapolis mayoral elections against

Richard Jefferson Richard Allen Jefferson Jr. (born June 21, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on ESPN. He played college basketball with the Arizona Wildcats. Jefferson was drafted in the first round of the 200 ...

, a member of the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint Pa ...

, and Sharon Sayles-Belton, president of the city council. Rapson relied on a grassroots campaign, receiving only 4% of his funding from political action committees. After his unsuccessful bid for mayor of Minneapolis, Rapson accepted a senior fellowship at the

. He then served for six years as president of the

in Minneapolis. In 2006, Rapson was appointed CEO of

, a foundation based in

Troy, Michigan Troy is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, United States. Its population was 87,294 at the 2020 U.S. census, making Troy the most populous city in the county and the 13th most-populous municipality in the state. Troy is a northern suburb of Me ...

, a suburb of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. He was responsible for a number of large grant programs made by the foundation including a $100-million grant to bring financial stability to the Detroit Institute of Arts whose art collection was owned by the city when it went bankrupt in 2013 and was being considered for sale to cover the city's debt. Together with

Gerald Rosen Gerald Ellis Rosen (born October 26, 1951) is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Professional career Prior to taking the bench, Rosen was a senior partner in the law ...

, a

U.S. district court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

chief judge, and

Darren Walker Darren Walker (born August 28, 1959) currently serves as 10th president of the Ford Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to human welfare. In June 2020, Walker led the Ford Foundation to issue a $1 billion designated social bond to stabi ...

of the Ford Foundation which chipped in another $125 million, Rapson helped organize a "grand bargain" as proposed by Judge Rosen, with other contributions from a number of foundations and the state of Michigan, to keep the art collection from being liquidated and help preserve pensions for city retirees, whose retirement funds were also at risk. Rip_Rapson_-_Q-Line_Opening

Under his leadership, the foundation contributed $150 million to the implementation of the Detroit Future City plan to revitalize the city and also spurred the development of the

QLine The QLine (stylized as QLINE), originally known as M-1 Rail by its developers, is a streetcar system in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Opened on May 12, 2017, it connects Downtown Detroit with Midtown and New Center, running along Woodwa ...

streetcar project in downtown Detroit. Rapson is a founding member on the board of directors of M-1 Rail, a non-profit organization which built, owns, and operates the QLine. He also serves on the Detroit board of directors of the

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (informally the Chicago Fed) is one of twelve regional Reserve Banks that, along with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, make up the United States' central bank. The Chicago Reserve Bank serves the Sevent ...

. As CEO of the Kresge Foundation, as of 2017, Rapson manages the organization's $3.8 billion in assets and 105 full-time employees.

Personal life

Rapson married Gail Johnson in August 1989. They have two children.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rapson, Rip 1952 births Columbia Law School alumni Deputy mayors People from Minneapolis People from Detroit Pomona College alumni Living people