Richard Gilder

Richard Gilder Jr. (May 31, 1932 – May 12, 2020), was an American philanthropist and co-founder of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. He also headed the brokerage firm Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co., whose specialty is trading leveraged stocks and shortselling. Gilder joined forces with George Soros in revitalizing Central Park, which galvanized the creation of the Central Park Conservancy, of which he was a trustee. Early life and education Gilder was born in Manhattan on May 31, 1932, a fifth-generation New Yorker of Bohemian Jewish descent. His father, Richard Sr., worked as a property manager for a real estate company; his mother, Jane (Moyse), was a housewife. Gilder attended Northfield Mount Hermon School before enrolling in Yale College, graduating in 1954 with a BA in history. He received a Doctor of Humane Letters in 2007 from Yale. He provided $4 million, over half the necessary funding, in honor of his daughter, Virginia Gilder, a two-time Olympian, for the recently completed Gilder Boathouse for Yale rowers. The boathouse carries only the Gilder last name to honor three generations of Yale alumni. Career After working at the brokerage firm of A.G. Becker & Co., Gilder founded the firm now known as Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co. in 1968. He was chairman of the executive committee at the New-York Historical Society and served on the executive board of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. With Lewis Lehrman he was a co-founder (1994) and trustee of the Gilder Lehrman Institute.