Richard Hampton Jenrette (April 5, 1929 – April 22, 2018) was an American businessman who co-founded the investment bank

Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) was a U.S. investment bank founded by William H. Donaldson, Richard Jenrette, and Dan Lufkin in 1959. Its businesses included securities underwriting; sales and trading; investment and merchant banking; fina ...

(DLJ).

Early life

Jenrette was born on April 5, 1929, in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

, the son of Joseph M. Jenrette, an insurance salesman, and his wife, Emma Love Jenrette, a homemaker and an avid gardener. They lived in the Raleigh suburbs, according to Jenrette, in "a comfortable Tudor home." He graduated from

Needham B. Broughton High School Needham B. Broughton High School, commonly known as Broughton High School, is one of thirty-two high schools in the Wake County Public School System. It is located at 723 St. Mary's Street, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Broughton w ...

in 1947, and from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

in 1951. Jenrette worked for the New England Life Insurance Co. from 1951 to 1953, and served in the North Carolina National Guard from 1953 to 1955, after which he enrolled in the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

where he earned an MBA in 1957.

Business career

After graduating from Harvard, Jenrette worked at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. from 1957 until 1959, when he co-founded Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette ("DLJ") with

William H. Donaldson William Henry Donaldson (born June 2, 1931) was the 27th Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), serving from February 2003 to June 2005. He served as Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs in the Nix ...

and Dan Lufkin. The firm concentrated on in-depth analysis, setting a new industry standard for institutional

investing Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

. Jenrette was instrumental in taking DLJ public in 1970, making it the first publicly traded investment firm in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Taking the helm of DLJ in 1973, he shepherded the firm through the recession of 1980–1983, and managed the firm’s sale in 1985 to the insurance firm The Equitable Companies Inc., where he became the chief investment officer. Jenrette served as chairman and CEO of AXA Equitable from April 1990, until his retirement in 1996. In addition to his career at DLJ and Equitable, Jenrette was a member of the Harvard University Board of Overseers; a director of the Associates of the

; a trustee of

The Duke Endowment The Duke Endowment is a private foundation established in 1924 by industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke. It supports selected programs of higher education, health care, children's welfare, and spiritual life in North Carolina and Sout ...

; and chairman and founder of the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust.

Restoration of historic houses

Beginning in the 1960s, Jenrette bought and restored a series of notable historic houses, such as the

Robert William Roper House The Robert William Roper House is an historic house at 9 East Battery in Charleston, South Carolina. It was built on land purchased in May 1838 by Robert W. Roper, a state legislator from the parish of St. Paul's and a prominent member of the S ...

in Charleston, South Carolina; Millford in Pinewood, South Carolina;

Ayr Mount Ayr Mount is a Federal style plantation house located east of Hillsborough, in Orange County, North Carolina, the United States of America. In 1799, William Kirkland (born in Ayr, Scotland) bought east of Hillsborough. Circa 1815, he had a h ...

in Hillsborough, North Carolina; the George F. Baker House in New York City; and Edgewater in

Barrytown, New York Barrytown is a hamlet (and census-designated place) within the town of Red Hook in Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is within the Hudson River Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and contains four notable Hudson River V ...

(which he bought in 1969 from the author

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and ...

). At Edgewater, Jenrette built two new buildings, a garden pavilion (1997) and a poolhouse (1998), both designed by the architect

Michael Dwyer Michael Dwyer (1772–1825) was an insurgent captain in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, leading the United Irish forces in battles in Wexford and Wicklow., Following the defeat and dispersal of the rebel hosts, in July 1798 Dwyer withdrew into ...

Personal life

Jenrette's longtime partner, William L. Thompson, died in 2013. Jenrette died of cancer on April 22, 2018, aged 89, in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

Awards and honors

*Member of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

*Order of the Golden Fleece,

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

*Hon. Doctor of Laws (

) *Hon. Doctor of Laws (

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. It was founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812 in honor of inaugural trustee Alexander Hamilton, following ...

, Clinton, New York) *Hon. Doctor of Laws (

The Citadel The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a Public college, public United States senior military college, senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one ...

, Charleston, South Carolina) *Hon. Doctor of Letters (

The College of Charleston The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...

, University of South Carolina) *Harvard Business School, Alumni Achievement Award (1984) *University of North Carolina, Distinguished Alumnus Award (1986) *University of North Carolina, William R. Davie Award (1999) *American Assembly, Service to Democracy Award –

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

Medal (1993) *

Chevalier of the Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

, given by the President of France (1996) *Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1999) *National Trust for Historic Preservation, Crowninshield Award (1996) *World Monuments Fund, Hadrian Award (1998)

Written works

* Richard H. Jenrette and John S. Chalsty. ''Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette collection of Americana'' (New York, NY: Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, 1989). * Richard H. Jenrette. ''Jenrette, the contrarian manager'' (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1997). * Richard H. Jenrette (author); John M. Hall (photographer). ''Adventures with old houses'' (Charleston, SC: Wyrick & Co., 2000), . * Richard H. Jenrette. ''More adventures with old houses: the Edgewater experience'' (New York, NY: Classical American Homes Preservation Trust, 2009). . * Richard H. Jenrette. ''Columns by the sea: the Roper House, Charleston, S.C.'' (New York, NY: Classical American Homes Preservation Trust, 2013), .

References

External links

Video InterviewsInterviewRichard Jenrette's HBS profileClassical American Homes website
http://nymag.com ; accessed April 23, 2018. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jenrette, Richard 1929 births 2018 deaths University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Harvard Business School alumni LGBT people from North Carolina LGBT people from South Carolina American LGBT businesspeople Businesspeople from Raleigh, North Carolina Writers from Raleigh, North Carolina American financial businesspeople Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Needham B. Broughton High School alumni Deaths from cancer in South Carolina Michael Middleton Dwyer Richard Jenrette