Michael Steinhardt, Honorary President

Michael Steinhardt has been deeply involved with the Steinhardt Museum since 1996 as visionary donor and true partner in the project’s development.
The museum brings together some of Mr. Steinhardt’s great loves – nature, pursuit of knowledge, education, and Israeli society. A guiding principle in Mr. Steinhardt’s ethos is that monetary achievements alone do not offer value or meaning in life; this museum is thus a perpetual symbol of his values.

Michael Steinhardt is one of the Jewish world’s leading philanthropic forces. He has dedicated his contributions toward efforts reviving, re-framing, and redefining Jewish life in America and around the world.
Mr. Steinhardt graduated the Wharton School of Business in 1960 and began his career in finance. He formed his own hedge fund in 1967 and became an industry record-breaker. He surprised the finance and business communities in 1995 with his announcement of retirement; he wanted to invest his time and energy in the causes of the Jewish world. Mr. Steinhardt’s storied career is documented in his memoir, No Bull: My Life In and Out of the Markets, published in 2001.
He founded The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life to engage Jews, particularly those on the margins of Jewish life, with the richness of Jewish traditions and celebrations. Michael Steinhardt co-founded Birthright Israel in response to the eroding Jewish life in the Diaspora. He believes in the power of a significant Israel experience as a way of bridging the gap between world Jewry and Israel. As chairman of the Steinhardt Foundation, he is committed to expanding Jewish early childhood education options, offering Hebrew language immersion programs in camps and schools, bringing the ritual of Shabbat meals to millennials, and so much more.