Robert Rosenkranz (born August 5, 1942) is an American philanthropist and the chairman of Delphi Capital Management, an investment concern with over $35 billion in assets under management, and the founder of a group of investment and private equity partnerships. From 1987 until 2018 he was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Delphi Financial Group, an insurance company with more than $20 billion in assets. Delphi grew from one of his acquisitions and increased its value 100-fold under his leadership. A graduate of

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

(''summa cum laude'') 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 ...

, he spent his early career as an economist with the

RAND Corporation The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...

, where he was engaged in research on foreign policy issues and municipal finance. He is the founder and chairman of Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates, a public policy debate series that provides a forum for reasoned public discourse

Intelligence Squared Intelligence Squared is a media company that organizes live debates and other cultural events around the world. It was founded in 2002 in London, where its head office is based, and has affiliates in the US, Australia, and Hong Kong. The debat ...

. He serves on the board of directors for the

Manhattan Institute The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (renamed in 1981 from the International Center for Economic Policy Studies) is a conservative American think tank focused on domestic policy and urban affairs, established in Manhattan in 1978 by Ant ...

, the

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude ...

of American Art in New York, the

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, and ...

at Stanford University in California, and the

Serpentine Galleries The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Central London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Gallery, ...

and

Policy Exchange Policy Exchange is a British conservatism in the United Kingdom, conservative think tank based in London. In 2007 it was described in ''The Daily Telegraph'' as "the largest, but also the most influential think tank on the right". ''The Washing ...

, the center-right think tank, in London. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of the Visiting Committees for the Departments of Photography and Asian Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Philanthropy

In 1985, Rosenkranz founded the Rosenkranz Foundation with the mission of encouraging fresh perspectives and innovation in public policy, higher education and the arts. One initiative of the foundation is the debate series Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates, established in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2006. A live event in New York, Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates is broadcast nationally by

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

and televised by Bloomberg TV. In late 2009, Yale University dedicated its new building, Rosenkranz Hall, in recognition of Rosenkranz's philanthropic work. Rosenkranz Hall is home to Yale's social sciences and international studies departments. In April 2010, Rosenkranz was honored by the

with their annual Alexander Hamilton Award, which he received in recognition of his founding of the Intelligence Squared U.S. debate series. The Rosenkranz Foundation also endowed Yale's Rosenkranz Writer-in-Residence program, funded several exhibitions at the Guggenheim Museum and promoted Chinese art by sponsoring a major exhibit on Mu Xin donating a large collection to Harvard University, and funded a book series on modern Chinese art by Yale University Press.

Intelligence Squared U.S. debates and public policy

Rosenkranz founded Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates in 2006, a live

debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...

series with the goal of raising the level of public discourse and promoting a realization that, on contentious issues, those who challenge the conventional wisdom have intellectually respectable and often persuasive viewpoints. Through an annual series of between 10 and 12 live Oxford-style debates, IQ2US brings together thought-leaders and audiences together around public policy and cultural issues. The program has been the subject of articles in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', and many other publications. Moderated by ABC's

John Donvan John Donvan (born 1955) is a journalist, broadcaster and debate moderator whose bestselling book, ''In a Different Key: The Story of Autism'', was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist. He serves as host of the Intelligence Squared US, a debate series dedicat ...

, panelists have included

Arianna Huffington Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (née Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, el, Αριάδνη-Άννα Στασινοπούλου ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of ''Th ...

, P. J. O'Rourke,

Karl Rove Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August 3 ...

, David Brooks,

Mort Zuckerman Mortimer Benjamin Zuckerman (born June 4, 1937) is a Canadian-American billionaire media proprietor, magazine editor, and investor. He is the co-founder, executive chairman and former CEO of Boston Properties, one of the largest real estate inves ...

Wesley Clark Wesley Kanne Clark (born December 23, 1944) is a retired United States Army officer. He graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, where he obtained a degree ...

Bernard-Henri Lévy Bernard-Henri Lévy (; ; born 5 November 1948) is a French public intellectual. Often referred to in France simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the " Nouveaux Philosophes" (New Philosophers) movement in 1976. His opinions, political acti ...

and many others. Rosenkranz writes about public policy and finance for the ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'', and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''. He is also an investment contributor to

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

Personal life

Rosenkranz lives in East Hampton. He has two children from a marriage to Margret Hill (June 20, 1940 - September 27, 2018) which ended in divorce:

Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz (born November 28, 1970) is an American constitutional law scholar, professor, and Broadway producer. He writes and teaches in the fields of constitutional law, statutory interpretation, and federal jurisdiction. He is t ...

and Stephanie Rosenkranz Hessler, both constitutional law scholars. Since June 29, 2002WEDDINGS; Alexandra Munroe, Robert Rosenkranz, New York Times June 30, 2002 https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/30/style/weddings-alexandra-munroe-robert-rosenkranz.html (accessed 2022-02-11) he has been married to

Alexandra Munroe Alexandra Munroe, Ph.D., is a curator, Asia scholar, and author focusing on art, culture, and institutional global strategy. She has produced over 40 exhibitions and published pioneering scholarship on modern and contemporary Asian art. She orga ...

, Ph.D., Senior Curator of Asian Art at the

Guggenheim Museum The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Museums in this group include: Locations Americas * The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...

. He is Jewish., but his second marriage was officiated at a Presbyterian church.

Notes

External links

Official Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenkranz, Robert Living people 1942 births Harvard Law School alumni Philanthropists from New York (state) American chief executives of financial services companies Yale University alumni People from Manhattan