Robert Alexander Belfer (born 1935) is an American oilman and philanthropist who is known for his stake in

Enron Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. ...

and is the namesake of

Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs The Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, also known as the Belfer Center, is a research center located within the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, in the United States. From 2017 until his death in Oc ...

Harvard Kennedy School The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

Early life and education

Belfer is the son of American oil industry executive and multimillionaire Arthur Belfer, founder of the Belco Petroleum Corporation, which became a

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

company. Robert Belfer was born in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in 1935 and graduated from Columbia College in 1955 and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1958.

Career

After completing law school, Belfer joined the Belco Petroleum Corp. He was elected president in 1960 and was named its chairman in 1985. The company subsequently merged into one of the predecessors of Enron Corp, the

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

-based InterNorth, Inc., and the Belfer family received a sizeable equity stake in the transaction, eventually becoming

's largest shareholder. What the family received was a special class of stock by which each share could be convertible into 27 common shares and paid big dividends. Belfer served the board of directors of

and was estimated to have held over 16 million

shares as of August, 2000. However, he was reported to be reticent on the board and was not involved in the operations of the company. He resigned from the board in June, 2002. His shares earned him a spot on the Forbes 400. However, after the collapse of stock prices following the

Enron scandal The Enron scandal was an accounting scandal involving Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas. Upon being publicized in October 2001, the company declared bankruptcy and its accounting firm, Arthur Andersen then on ...

, the Belfer family holdings, valued at $661 million at the peak stock price of August 2000, were valued at just $6.3 million in 2001. The preferred shares he and his family owned in

would have been worth as much as $1.4 billion, according to analysts. Nevertheless, prior to the

collapse, he had diversified into New York City real estate and founded a second energy company, Belco Oil & Gas Corp., in 1992. The company went public in 1996 through

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

, raising more than $100 million. It was acquired by a Denver-based oil company in 2001.

Philanthropy

In addition to his business ventures, Belfer is well known for his philanthropic endeavors. He is a major donor to the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, where he founded the Robert and Renée Belfer Court for early Greek and prehistoric art in 1996. He also gave generously to

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

, which named

after him in 1997. He also donated to Weizmann Institute of Science as well as the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...

. His philanthropic activities have focused on medical institutions. He donated to Yeshiva University, whose tallest building, Belfer Hall, was named after his family, and served as the chair of the board of overseers of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He also served on the board of Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, to which he donated $250 million over the years. The school's $100 million Belfer Research Building, dedicated in 2014, is named after him. Belfer sat on the board of directors of

Dana–Farber Cancer Institute Dana–Farber Cancer Institute is a comprehensive cancer treatment and research institution in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana–Farber is the founding member of Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard's Comprehensive Cancer Center designated b ...

and donated $25 million to found the Robert A. and Renée E. Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science. He also was the founding donor for the Neurodegeneration Consortium, a multi-institutional collaboration to find treatments for Alzheimer's disease, which is based out of MD Anderson Cancer Center. Belfer also endowed a professorship at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, the Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Relations, which is held by the political scientist Jack Snyder.

Personal life

He is married to Renée E Belfer, and the couple has three children and five grandchildren. His daughter, Shelley Belfer, is married to Anthony Malkin, son of

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...

owner and lawyer Peter L. Malkin and grandson of Lawrence Wien.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belfer, Robert A. American business executives Enron people Columbia College (New York) alumni Harvard Law School alumni American Jews American philanthropists American businesspeople in the oil industry American company founders Living people 1935 births