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Mega-Billionaire Ken Griffin Has Moved His Masterpieces to the Beach

In 2015, the hedge fund titan  Kenneth C. Griffin  became the first person to spend half a billion dollars on art in a single transaction.  David Geffen made a deal with Griffin to sell him Willem de Kooning’s boldly colored abstract masterpiece  Interchange for $300 million, and Jackson Pollock’s  Number 17A —the splatter painting  Life magazine  plastered in its pages in 1949 , minting Jack the Dripper an American celebrity—for $200 million. 

Griffin could have scurried away with the masterpieces to one of his homes: a $238 million apartment at 220 Central Park West and a $120 million London mansion near Buckingham Palace, the most expensive apartment in Chicago history, getaways in Aspen and Hawaii, a large chunk of Miami’s Star Island. Instead he let them go on view at the Art Institute of Chicago, placing 20th-century masterworks next to the museum’s iconic impressionist and postimpressionist holdings.

“My art collection is almost all at the Art Institute of Chicago, it’s been there for years,” Griffin said to David Rubenstein in March 2019, while appearing on his show  Peer-to-Peer Conversations. “For me, the fact that 700,000 or a million people a year will have a chance to see some of the greatest works of art of our culture, that I’m fortunate enough to own? I have great satisfaction in that.”

But at some point over the last few years, those two works, the Pollock and the de Kooning traded in the biggest art sale ever, were quietly taken down from the museum. Their whereabouts were unknown. 

The Saturday after Art Basel, I took a Brightline train from Miami to Palm Beach to attend openings and cocktails parties that make up the New Wave Art Weekend. At one point I swung by the Norton, the West Palm Beach museum that houses the collection of Ralph Hubbard Norton, a 20th-century steel magnate from Chicago who summered in Florida. I had seen the permanent collection twice in the past two years and thought I knew it pretty well, but after walking out from a gallery of top-notch work by Georgia O’Keeffe, Stuart Davis, and Edward Hopper, I saw a work made the year Norton died, something I had presumed would have been well out of the museum’s acquisitions budget: Mark Rothko’s No. 2 (Blue, Red and Green) (Yellow, Red, Blue on Blue) (1953), which exploded the artist’s market when it sold at Sotheby’s in 2000 for $11 million, or about $30 million accounting for inflation. 

As the wall text explained, it was at the Norton on loan from a private collection, after having been shown at the Art Institute of Chicago from October 2020 to June 2022. Also new was a peak Roy Lichtenstein masterwork,  Ohhh…Alright…  (1964), which set an artist record when it sold for $42.6 million at Christie’s, consigned by  Steve Wynn,  who bought it from  Steve Martin. It too was shown at the Art Institute of Chicago, and belongs, the wall text said, to a private collection. And across the hall, an untitled Robert Ryman that was on the walls of the great Chicago museum as recently as 2017 was hanging at the Norton, thanks to a private collection. 

Sources confirmed that all three came from Griffin. 

And then, around a corner and installed with little to no ceremony, were two works very much in a private collection, but a collection that everyone knows:  Interchange and  Number 17A, owned by Griffin. 

Without fanfare, at least a billion dollars of Griffin’s art departed the second-biggest encyclopedic institution in the country and ended up in Palm Beach. The Norton declined to comment when asked about the new works in its collection, as did the Art Institute, but Griffin provided a statement to True Colors on Thursday. 

“The Norton is one of our country’s most significant and beautiful museums,” Griffin said. “I hope South Florida families, students and visitors will enjoy and be inspired by these pieces and the thousands of works of art from all over the world displayed at the museum.”

Griffin was very public about moving Citadel, his hedge fund with over $50 billion in assets, to Miami  earlier this year . The prodigal son of the sunshine state—Griffin’s a Boca Raton native and a graduate of Boca Raton Community High School—returned in after decades of support for Chicago, the city he lived in since graduating from Harvard in 1989 and immediately crushed it with his own fund. 

In departing the Windy City, Griffin left behind the Illinois governor (and fellow billionaire) with whom he publicly feuded over raising taxes on the wealthy and what he claimed was a rising crime rate ( JB Pritzker ); and a gubernatorial candidate that Griffin bankrolled to the tune of $50 million only to see steamrolled in a Republican primary by a Trump-backed candidate ( Richard Irvin ). (On the other hand: Anne Dias-Griffin , his ex-wife and fellow hedgie who claimed in a yearlong divorce battle that she was forced to sign a prenup that only gave her a $1 million a year, also recently moved to Miami.) 

At the outset of the pandemic, Griffin rented out the entire Four Seasons in Palm Beach, parked off-duty cops outside, and restricted entry to anyone but his employees. He made Citadel’s move official in June,  taking space in a building owned by fellow art-collecting billionaire  Vlad Doronin, until a new HQ can be built. He’s spent weekends on Palm Beach, where he’s bought up sizable contiguous chunks of the south part of the island. 

Griffin has also gone all in on  Ron DeSantis , the Florida governor who, in his successful reelection campaign in November, became the first Republican in decades to carry the once-hard-blue Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. Griffin told Politico  in a rare interview that his deep pockets would back the heir to MAGA-dom if he ran for president in 2024. Griffin’s already started to flex his political sway, in Florida and elsewhere. He donated more than $100 million to Republican candidates in 2022, and is very much over his next-door neighbor at Mar-a-Lago.

“[Trump] did a lot of things really well and missed the mark on some important areas,” Griffin told Politico. “And for a litany of reasons, I think it’s time to move on to the next generation.”

Ken Griffin got into art collecting by accident. In 1999, while on a work trip to New York, he stumbled into Sotheby’s and was taken by one of Degas’s sculptures of little ballet dancer girls. (Degas was so protective of the works he rarely showed them outside his studio.) Griffin had come in cold but after a 40-minute-long chat with Sotheby’s CEO  Dede Brooks  (who would be convicted in the auction house’s price-fixing scandal three years later) he  decided he would bid on the sculpture when it came up for auction in November. But he wasn’t aggressive enough to win it. 

“I was outbid, I was outbid—I tried to buy it, the hammer went down, it wasn’t my bid, I wasn’t willing to go that high,” Griffin said in the interview with Rubenstein. “I had never been so frustrated in my life. I hung up the phone, and I called Sotheby’s the next day and offered more money to buy it, and that was the start of my passion in art.”

He soon bought a Degas painting,  Dancers in Green, and a Monet water lilies painting, positioning him as a major collector of impressionist art. Each of those works would have been sold, even 20 years ago, in the mid eight figures. 

Six years later, Griffin’s collection had expanded to include two Cezannes—one that cost $60.5 million, bought from Wynn. In 2006 Griffin spent $80 million on Jasper Johns’s  False Start, buying it from Geffen. His big buying hasn’t stopped and his taste has expanded—in 2020 he bought a Basquiat for $100 million from  Peter Brant, another billionaire with a Palm Beach house. In 2021, he bought a Barnett Newman,  Uriel, (1955) for what was said to be more than the artist’s auction record of $84.2 million. (And let’s not forget how he outbid ConstitutionDAO—remember DAOs?—to win a copy of the historical document for $42 million,  just because his son wanted it .)

And like the Pollock and the de Kooning, the Newman and the Basquiat were all recently on long-term loan at the Art Institute of Chicago, which Griffin donated to generously. After giving $19 million to the museum for a new wing designed by Renzo Piano, the museum renamed its grand atrium Griffin Court. 

He also gave to various other Chi-town institutions, such as the University of Chicago, which received not just funding—$125 million to pay for financial aid and professors, earning him the naming rights to the economics department—but scores of artworks from his collection. In 2020, the David Rubenstein Forum put on view a number of works from Griffin’s collection, such as  Peter Doig ’s  Red House  (1995–1996) which Griffin bought at Phillips in 2017 for $21 million. There was also de Kooning’s  Untitled XII  (1981) last seen at a show at  Robert Mnuchin ’s gallery with  Dominique Levy in 2007, and Ed Clark’s  Untitled #2 (The Blue One) (2004) last seen at Mnuchin’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach 2019. 

But with the move to Florida complete, Griffin is no longer on the board of Chicago’s universities and museums. This year, he pledged $130 million to various institutions. A rep for Griffin told Bloomberg that the set of 40 organizations that Griffin donated to represented “ the fabric of Chicago .” It was dubbed  a parting gift . 

Griffin had a head start on his new home base. He had already donated enough money to the Norton—$20 million, in 2018—to earn him the naming rights to the new wing and the rights to name the museum’s directorship. It was,  Ghislain d’Humières, the Kenneth C. Griffin Director and CEO of the museum, who led me through  the special exhibition , “A Personal View on High Fashion & Street Style,” with hundreds of groundbreaking photo-based works culled from  Nicola Erni ’s epic photography collection. 

It’s one of the many highlights in the post–Basel Palm Beach landscape that come together as the New Wave Art Weekend, an annual excursion 70 miles north of Magic City. The Norton has its big shows up, the galleries all hold opening shindigs—Paula Cooper’s outpost of Worth Avenue had new work by  Julian Lethbridge and, while not officially part of the New Wave programming, Lehmann Maupin’s outpost at the Poinciana Plaza had new work by the photographer  Alex Prager. Globe-hopping members of the art world—Studio museum director  Thelma Golden, collector and patron  Ann Tenenbaum, artist  Marilyn Minter —pinballed from  Beth Rudin DeWoody ’s collection shows at The Bunker to White Cube’s seasonal space on West Palm Beach to the Breakers for cocktails. There were big bashes at some of the island’s craziest houses, including one at Norton board member  Kelly Williams ’s home overlooking the bay, and another at the home of  Lisa and James Cohen, which was built in the 1920s for financier Otto Kahn, the German-born magnate who was the primary inspiration for the mascot of a certain board game that came out in the ’30s. That’s right, there was a party at the  Monopoly Man estate. 

But not even Mr. Moneybags’ envious holdings could compete with the parcel of land being developed by Griffin, who has spent a decade methodically buying plots on Palm Beach island just south of Mar-a-Lago, until he had amassed $350 million worth of property, which will now host his homecoming. Talking to Bloomberg at the Norton’s 2019 gala Griffin said that his devotion to the museum had to do with his South Florida upbringing—that it was “an opportunity to do something special in Palm Beach, to honor my past and honor my future.”

So on that note, maybe bolting from Chicago with billions of dollars in paintings and installing them at a museum in Palm Beach—well, maybe it’s a personal gesture that only a mega-rich collector can pull off. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the museum’s final gallery, the one that houses the impressionist holdings of museum founder Ralph Norton, including Renoirs and Cezannes and Brancusi sculptures. Suddenly the works are right there: a Monet water lilies painting, the Degas painting  Dancers in Green, and the Degas sculpture  Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen.  

The first three artworks ever bought by one of the world’s great art collectors are currently installed right next to each other, as intimate an installation as in a private home.

Your crib sheet for comings and goings in the art world this week and beyond…

…The Met held its annual swanky Acquisitions Gala last week, and director  Max Hollein  welcomed a number of board members and supporters, all the usual suspects,  Niarchoses and  Mugrabis and  Glimchers, too many to name here. It’s probably the only place where Berlin art scene maestro  Klaus Biesenbach and Zero Bond’s  Scott Sartiano and former commerce secretary  Wilbur Ross can be under the same roof. Plus, where else can you see  Mike Bloomberg throwing it down with Patriots owner  Robert Kraft ? Only at The Met Acquisitions Gala, kids! 

… Gerhard Richter, maybe earth’s greatest living painter, is now represented by David Zwirner, the gallery started by the son of one of his earliest Cologne dealers. As Richter said in a rare statement, “I have known David since his childhood as I had already in the 1960s worked closely with his father, Rudolf Zwirner. I feel this represents a beautiful continuity across generations.” Richter left his longtime dealer,  Marian Goodman, herself a nonagenarian, and will have a show of new work with Zwirner in March 2023 in New York. 

… Rich Torrisi has opened his own namesake restaurant, called Torrisi Bar & Grill, offering a swerve from his best bro and business partner  Mario Carbone ’s namesake juggernaut. Like Carbone, though, there’s sick art in the joint, once again due to a collaboration with dealer  Vito Schnabel, who enlisted his dad,  Julian, for something really special. Hanging in the restaurant in the Puck Building is one of the elder Schnabel’s giant classic plate paintings, this one depicting the building’s namesake, the mischievous demon known as Puck. This is probably the best Puck Building–related news since, I dunno, the days of  Spy magazine? Certainly it’s the biggest art-world news there since maybe that time a  Harmony Korine  painting was stolen from the lobby in a crime that’s still unsolved ? Someone should really figure out what happened there. 

… Urs Fischer has a clothing line called UF—as in his initials, but also the guttural proclamation, I guess—and honestly, shit slaps. Go buy some at the temporary pop-up store that Fischer’s set up in  Jeffrey Deitch ’s Grand Street gallery.

January: Dinner for Jonas Wood at Grandmaster Recorders in Los Angeles

… Benny Blanco  rolling fatties, burgers to munch on, a dance party in a hut,  David Kordansky tearing up while toasting to Wood, collectors in khakis…  

February: Dinner for the opening of Prada Mode Los Angeles at Genghis Cohen  

… Martine Syms work installed throughout the Prada-ized Szechuan joint,  Jeff Goldblum  firmly in the cut, more weed,  The Cobrasnake papping  Jordan Wolfson, vibes midshift…

March: Cocktails for the opening of the Whitney Biennial at the Whitney in New York

…All the Rubells,  Alex Da Corte ’s brother painting the cube hosting an Alex Da Corte video, all four members of   the Red Hot Chili Peppers , everyone going to Pastis after…

April: Chanel Next Prize dinner at a 14th-century palazzo during the Venice Biennale

… Tilda Swinton and  Honor Swinton-Byrne, martinis with lemon twists flown in from the Amalfi Coast,  Kehinde Wiley saying,   “I can’t even get a cigarette, and I’m Kehinde Wiley” …

April: Dinner for the opening of “Human Brains” at the Fondazione Prada in Venice

… Francesco Vezzoli  talking about  Kim Kardashian,   Raf Simons smoking tiny Vogue cigarettes out the window,  Beeple sitting with Relational Aesthetics founder Nicolas Bourriaud, Nan Goldin and  Anselm Kiefer just a table apart…

May: MoMA PS1 Gala at MoMA PS1 in Queens

… Agnes Gund getting the entire art world to leave Manhattan for a night,  Rashid Johnson ’s perfect speech,  Mina Stone ’s perfect Greek food, drinking Tsipouro at the bar at Mina’s with artist  Alex Eagleton …

June: Boondoggles to Basel, Menorca, and Hydra

… Jeff Koons  chilling in the Greek isles on a yacht he designed called “Guilty,” grilled crustaceans, “getting a ride,” Nate not being there because his daughter was born…

August: Ballroom Marfa Summer Party at a private home in Bridgehampton

…Texans in the Hamptons, trapeze artists during the cocktail hour, David Lauren in a hippie sweater, Casa Dragones, mosquitos,  Robert Longo never taking off his sunglasses…

September: Dinner for Karma’s new Los Angeles gallery at Jones in Hollywood

…Every artist in Los Angeles, SF-bashing,  Sean MacPherson in the ’90s, rare  Ed Ruscha books, nobody wanting to go to Malibu…

October: White Cube’s Frieze dinner at the Chiltern Firehouse in London

…Real cigarettes, Brits with hyphenated last names who alway get in the  Tatler front-of-book,  Andre Balazs,   Jay Jopling running the city of London , more Casa Dragones…

November: Gagosian hosts a dinner for Sterling Ruby at The Nines in New York  

…Caviar bumps, “the Downtown Bemelmans,” tickling the ivories, the bicoastal lifestyle, spilling wine on art dealers, tie-dye formal…

November: Hauser & Wirth and MOCA celebrate Henry Taylor at Carbone in Miami  

…Overhearing that performance artist Joan Jonas is at Carbone but then finding out it’s actually a Jonas Brother, spicy rigatoni vodka for 1,000, Swiss billionaires eating chunks of Parmesan cheese,   Venus Williams introducing  Reilly Opelka to Henry Taylor, $100 plates of veal Parmesan for free…

And that’s a wrap on True Colors in 2022! We’ll be back in the new year, refreshed and rejuvenated and ready once again to take whatever the Art World throws at us. In the meantime, feel free to drop me a line at [email protected].

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Billionaire Ken Griffin Is Building Himself the World’s Most Expensive Home

The hedge-fund manager’s 50,000-square-foot palm beach mansion will be worth a whopping $1 billion when complete.  , abby montanez, abby montanez's most recent stories.

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Ken Griffin is out to set another real estate record. 

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“The vast majority of the properties Ken owns are in South Florida,” Zia Ahmed, a spokesperson for Griffin, told The Post. “Palm Beach real estate is among the most valuable in the world because of the pro-growth and pro-business policies voted for by the citizens of Florida.” 

The beachfront spread on Blossom Way, which was approved by the Architectural Board in 2022, will occupy roughly eight of the 25 acres and comprise a massive swimming pool, a main residence, and a guest house. Initially, the abode will be used by Griffin’s family, including his mother. However, the financier has future plans to use the entire property as his retirement home, sources told the newspaper. 

Griffin’s buying spree in Palm Beach began back in 2012, when he amassed a series of four oceanfront properties for a collective $129.6 million. Since then, he’s acquired several other adjacent estates on Blossom Way and Ocean Boulevard. Most notably in 2019, a company linked to Griffin snapped up a four-and-a-half-acre mansion for $104.99 million , breaking a real estate record for the area. The ocean-to-lake compound formerly belonged to the late Broadway producer Terry Allen Kramer.  

Abigail Montanez is a staff writer at Robb Report. She has worked in both print and digital publishing for over half a decade, covering everything from real estate, entertainment, dining, travel to…

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Breaking news, ken griffin plans to build the most expensive home on earth — a $1b mega-estate.

Palm Beach, Florida, a playground for the rich and famous, is no stranger to opulence.

But it seems that billionaire hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin is taking luxury living to a whole new level.

Griffin, already a prominent figure in the seaside town and a Florida native, is turning heads with his ambitious plans to create the most expensive home not just in America — but on the planet.

The enigmatic financier, known for his vast wealth and astute investments as founder and CEO of the once Chicago-based Citadel, now Miami, has made headlines by acquiring more than 20 acres of prime Palm Beach real estate.

What’s even more astounding is that Griffin, 55, has obliterated the existing homes on this sprawling property, with intentions to spend between a staggering $150 to $400 million on constructing a mega-estate that will be worth an estimated $1 billion upon completion.

Griffin, who knows the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach intimately, is no stranger to grandeur.

Over the years, he has already assembled approximately 27 acres of beachfront real estate, which includes a couple of parcels on the Intracoastal Waterway.

This colossal property is situated just a quarter mile south of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, a stretch of South Ocean Boulevard renowned among locals as “Billionaires’ Row.”

Records indicate that Griffin has earmarked hundreds of millions for the construction of his mammoth mansion, expected to be worth that sky-high sum, according to industry insiders.

As one industry insider pointed out, “If he spent nearly half a billion to buy up acres of land in Palm Beach over the last decade and is expected to spend $150 million more to build an entirely new home, that piece of property is worth at least $1 billion now.”

When reached for comment about Griffin now owning the most valuable home in America, a spokesperson for Griffin cited Florida’s policies that have skyrocketed the values of properties in the area.

“The vast majority of the properties Ken owns are in South Florida. Palm Beach real estate is among the most valuable in the world because of the pro-growth and pro-business policies voted for by the citizens of Florida,” Zia Ahmed, a spokesperson for Griffin, said.

Griffin unveiled part of his grand vision for a beachfront mansion, which is to be built on a 7½-acre portion of his sprawling ocean-to-lake estate.

With an impressive 50,000 total square feet, including the service basement, the contemporary-style house and guesthouse will be a testament to extravagant living.

This estate’s acreage marks the largest of its kind in Palm Beach, beating out Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, which is on almost 20 acres.

Griffin initiated the acquisition of this property 10 years ago, investing no less than $450 million in real estate, fees and tear downs, according to records.

Sources familiar with the project reveal that the residence, on Blossom Way, will initially be used by Griffin’s mother, Catherine Gratz Griffin.

The billionaire has even grander designs in the works, as he plans to utilize the entire estate as his retirement home in the future.

In May, Griffin filed an agreement with the county to consolidate all parcels on Blossom Way with his Ocean Boulevard properties, effectively creating a single vast estate, records obtained by The Post show.

The Architectural Board granted approval for a long-and-lean house on the north side of his Billionaires’ Row estate in June 2022.

This estate will occupy approximately 8 of the 27 acres Griffin and his companies own off South Ocean Boulevard.

Meanwhile, while renderings of the northern property have been revealed, an application for a property in the southern part of the compound was recently submitted for approval, documents obtained by The Post show.

Construction machinery is already visible at the far end of the lot, once home to several mansions and now part of Griffin’s estate. 

Renderings offer a glimpse into the lavish design, featuring an upper event lawn leading to a magnificent swimming pool with windows on both sides that frame mesmerizing views of the Atlantic Ocean. 

The grand swimming pool will stretch from the residence to a vast lawn, creating a serene and picturesque oasis.

The estate will also feature several meticulously landscaped gardens.

Another rendering reveals a caretaker’s cottage. 

Griffin’s journey in assembling this opulent oasis was made possible with the assistance of his longtime real estate broker, Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates.

The saga began in December 2012 when Griffin, through two separate shell companies, acquired four adjacent properties totaling 8 acres on Blossom Way in the Blossom Estate subdivision for a recorded $129.6 million, giving him an astounding 560 feet of oceanfront.

Today, Griffin, worth an estimated $34.2 billion, now owns a string of properties along Blossom Way, which once held addresses 10 Blossom Way, 20 Blossom Way, 30 Blossom Way, 40 Blossom Way, 50 Blossom Way, and 70 Blossom Way.

In the summer of 2015, a Griffin-controlled company made another remarkable acquisition, purchasing that non-waterfront house and guesthouse at 70 Blossom Way for $15.25 million, which added 1.44 acres to his already vast holdings.

January 2017 witnessed yet another jaw-dropping deal when a Griffin-controlled company forked out a colossal $85 million for an oceanfront mansion at 1290 S. Ocean Blvd., just south of his other estate.

This purchase expanded his property to 12 contiguous acres, boasting a cool 871 feet of oceanfront.

However, Griffin’s ever-evolving plans didn’t stop there. By the spring of 2018, a transaction shrouded in secrecy added the first lakefront property, boasting 2 acres and 193 feet on the Intracoastal Waterway, to his estate.

Although the exact price remains undisclosed, industry observers estimated that this acquisition cost him as much as $20 million

In September 2019, a company linked to Griffin paid $99.13 million for the mansion at 60 Blossom Way, which has since been razed to make way for the new mansion and guesthouse.

Those will boast stone exteriors, and modern, sleek lines.

In late June 2019, a Griffin-linked company paid $104.99 million, briefly setting a Palm Beach sales price record, for an ocean-to-lake estate at 1295 S. Ocean Blvd.

This significant acquisition, made just after the death of investment bank heiress and Broadway producer Terry Allen Kramer, added around 4.5 acres to Griffin’s massive Palm Beach property.

The summer of 2022 saw the town grant Griffin permission to build an oceanfront mansion designed for his mother, family members, and guests on approximately 8 acres at the northern end of his property.

The rest of his estate remains undeveloped, leaving ample room for future expansions and innovations.

It’s worth noting that despite the magnitude of his Palm Beach holdings, Griffin has confirmed that he has relocated his family to Miami after moving his company from Chicago to the Magic City last year.

The financier also shelled out $83 million for an office space on Worth Avenue, the iconic shopping boulevard in Palm Beach.

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Take a look at Florida native Ken Griffin’s plans to build the world’s second-most expensive home in Palm Beach. The $1 billion mega-mansion of the hedge fund billionaire will have a mammoth swimming pool, spa, and lakeside gardens.

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Ken Griffin, financial prodigy turned industry giant

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20 Things You Didn’t Know about Ken Griffin

Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder of Citadel, recently made headlines after news emerged that he’d added a $99 million beach house in Florida to his already considerable property empire. The 3.7-acre property, which boasts 8 bedrooms and occupies an enviable position on Palm Beach, represents the second-biggest property deal in the city to date. Over the past few years, Griffin has been snapping up jaw-droppingly expensive properties left, right and center, spending at least $350 million on his ever-growing Palm Beach estate alone (which is to say nothing of his historic purchase of a $238 million residence in New York City earlier this year). To learn more about the professional and personal life of the financial titan, read on.

1. He bought the most expensive property ever sold

In January 2019, Griffin made history when he closed a deal to buy the most expensive property to ever be sold in the US. The New York penthouse (which comes with some very nice views over Central Park and a stunning interior that stretches over several floors) set the Citadel founder back a mammoth $238 million. As reported by CNBC the property was purchased in its raw state, meaning Griffin will need to fork out several more millions before the home is designed, built and furnished to completion.

2. He’s known for his big property investments

New York isn’t the only state in which Griffin has closed a massive property deal: his previous investments in Chicago and Miami represent the most expensive sales the states have ever witnessed. In Chicago, Griffin laid down $58.5 million for the top four floors of a condo tower on the Gold Coast. Before that, Chicago’s most expense property sale was the comparatively minor $18.75 million paid by George Lucas and his wife for a penthouse at Park Tower. In 2015, meanwhile, Griffin broke records when he happily handed over $60 million for a penthouse in Miami- the most anyone has ever paid for the privilege of owning a condo in the city.

3. He’s going global with his spending

It’s not just the US property market that’s benefiting from Griffin’s cash; he’s also proving to be a realtor’s dream in the UK. Around about the time he was laying down $238 million for his Manhattan residence, he was also busy breaking records in London by handing over a historic $122 million for a manse near Buckingham Palace.

4. His spending spree has led to speculation

Griffin’s recent spending spree has led many to speculate about why’s he splashing so much of his cash on the housing market. “He buys them because he is a Master of the Universe — and he can,” New York City real estate broker Dolly Lenz has suggested to the Post . One of Griffin’s colleagues has offered the alternative suggestion that “Preservation of capital over the long term is the only thing I can think of.’’ Other sources close to Griffin have suggested a more personal reason for his recent investments. “He has been buying them up since his divorce to impress women he is dating,’’ one source has said.

5. He’s no socialist

Some real estate sources have suggested the real reason behind Griffin’s sudden interest in buying up swathes of prime Florida real estate is down to a very simple motivation: taxes. By moving his primary residence from Chicago to Florida, the business magnate would benefit from a much lower tax rate. While this is, of course, purely speculative, it certainly fits in with his very hostile position towards socialism. “Where we see the government involved in great degrees of subsidizations is where we often see the economy break down the greatest,’ he told the attendees of the Milken Institute Global Conference in spring this year.

6. He’s made financial contributions to both major parties

As we’ve already discovered, Griffin is no socialist, but that’s not to say he’s a dye-in-the-wool republican either. As Chicago Mag reports, Griffin has made numerous (and substantial) donations to candidates from both major parties over the years, including the Republicans Paul Ryan and Senator Tom Coburn, and the Democrats Rahm Emanuel and Senator Evan Bayh. In 2011 alone, Griffin and his then-wife, Anne, donated a reported $1,869,400 to political causes. Despite his obviously keen interest in politics, Griffin has publicly stated that he has no interest in running for election himself.

7. He started his first investment fund at Harvard

Griffin’s interest in investing was piqued after reading a Forbes magazine article on the subject during his freshman year at Harvard . After making some initial investments, he launched his first hedge fund during his second year of college, capitalized with $265,000 seed money borrowed from various friends and relatives. His success allowed him to launch a 2nd fund soon after; by the time he graduated from Harvard in 1989, he was managing over $1 million in assets.

8. Frank C. Meyer was his first major investor

Fresh from Harvard with a degree in economics, the young Griffin managed to impress Frank C. Meyer, the founder of Glenwood Capital LLC, so much that Meyer offered Griffin $1 million to invest as he saw fit. Griffin did just that, and in return for his generosity, Meyer was rewarded with a 70% return on his initial investment.

9. He founded Citadel in 1990

A year after graduating, Griffin founded Citadel Investment Group with the proceeds of his previous investments (which by then had managed to return a staggering $4.6 million). The company grew rapidly, and within just 8 years, had $1 billion in investment capital and an army of over 100 employees.

10. He shook things up in 1994

In 1994, Griffin experienced a rare set back when Citadel made its first loss. In response, Griffin made the decision to turn Citadel from a hedge fund into a mainstream investment company, believing this the best way to withstand any changes or disruptions in the market. After enjoying a sustained period of growth, the company was again shaken when the 2008 financial crisis hit. After its Kensington and Wellington Funds lost 55 percent of their value, Griffin made the decision to suspend shareholder redemptions, something he’s since described as one of the “most difficult decisions” he’s ever made. By 2012, Griffin’s strategy of managing the crisis had paid off, and the company had recouped all the loses of 2008.

11. He’s been described as a great boss

In March 2015, Citadel won the honor of ranking on the Top 10 Great Workplaces in Financial Services by the Great Places to Work Institute. As Business Insider reports, employees of the financial giant can expect to enjoy such perks as free daily meals, private museum tours, and fitness programs. Griffin’s enthusiasm for a collaborative, inclusive environment stems from his firsthand experience of working for a company at the other end of the scale. “It was a defining moment in my youth when I realized I wanted to be part of a team that liked to collaborate and work together,” he told Crain’s.

12. He was Forbes’ youngest-ever self-made millionaire

In 2003, Griffin made the Forbes 400 for the first time, making him the youngest ever self-made millionaire to make the list. His fortune at the time was estimated to be $650 million. By the following year, that fortune had increased enough for Forbes to name him the eighth richest American under 40; by 2006, he was the fifth-youngest richest American on the Forbes 400.

13. He’s one of the highest-earning hedge fund managers in the world

In March 2019, Forbes named Griffin to their list of the highest-earning hedge fund managers and traders in the world. The ranking came after a very successful year for Citadel, which saw the firm’s flagship hedge fund return 9.1%, and its other funds return between 6% and 9% net of fees. Griffin’s personal earnings for 2018 are estimated to be a massive $870 million.

14. He’s worth $12.8 billion

Given that Griffin was already managing $1 million in assets before he’d even graduated university, it’ll be little surprise to most to learn he’s one of the world’s richest men. According the Forbes , the Citadel founder is today worth an estimated $12.8 billion, a fortune that makes him the 117th richest person in the world, and the richest resident of the state of Illinois.

15. He’s twice married, twice divorced

After Griffin’s first marriage to childhood sweetheart, Katherine Weingartt, ended in divorce, he married his second wife, Anne Dias-Griffin (founder of Aragon Global Management, a Chicago-based hedge fund firm) in 2004. Eleven years of marriage and three children later, the couple called it a day in October 2015, citing the usual “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for their split.

15. He contributed to the building of a chapel

In 2011, Griffin, a member of the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, donated $11 million to the building of a new chapel at the church. In honor of the significant donation, the church named the new five-story, 80,000-square-foot addition “ The Genevieve and Wayne Gratz Center” as a tribute to Griffin’s grandparents.

16. He’s noted for his philanthropy

The Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago isn’t the only beneficiary of Griffin’s wealth; over the years, the financial titan has made no shortage of donations to charitable causes. In 2007, he donated $19 million to the Art Institute of Chicago, while in February 2014, he gifted $150 million to his alma mater, Harvard University, in what was then the largest single donation to ever be made to the university. Other institutes to benefit from his philanthropy include the Chicago Park District and the Department of Economics of the University of Chicago.

17. He’s a Hall of Fame inductee

In 2008, Griffin was honored when the Institutional Investors Alpha’s Hedge Fund Manager Hall of Fame inducted him as a member. Griffin was one of 12 legendary investors inducted that year, with the others being Alfred Jones, Bruce Kovner, David Swensen, George Soros , Jack Nash, James Simons, Julian Roberston, Leon Levy, Louis Bacon, Michael Steinhardt, Paul Tudor Jones, Seth Klarman and Steven A. Cohen.

18. He’s an avid art collector

Given the enormous state of his fortune, Griffin has cash to burn (or at least he did have, before he started spending vast swathes of it on prime chunks of real estate). One of his favorite ways of splashing the cash is on building his art collection. In 1999, he added to what was already a very significant collection when he purchased Paul Cézanne’s Curtain, Jug and Fruit Bowl for a record $60 million. In 2006, he spent a grand total of $80 million on False Start by Jasper Johns. Other significant purchases include Willem de Kooning’s 1955 oil painting, Interchange, and Jackson Pollock’s 1948 painting, Number 17A, both of which were purchased from music mogul David Geffen for $300 million and $200 million respectively.

19. He’s the vice-chairman of the Chicago Public Education Fund

Outside of his activities with Citadel, Griffin is an active member of several non-business-related boards, including the University of Chicago’s Board of Trustees, and the Board of Trustees for the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He also currently serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Chicago Public Education Fund.

20. He’s a member of the G100

While Griffin has previously confirmed he holds no political aspirations, he’s not reluctant to exert his influence in other spheres. In addition to his membership of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation (a nonpartisan research organization that provides advise on US capital markets to policymakers), Griffin is also an active member of the G100, a community of 100 CEOs that, as their website declares, delivers “actionable insights that improve business performance.”

Allen Lee is a Toronto-based freelance writer who studied business in school but has since turned to other pursuits. He spends more time than is perhaps wise with his eyes fixed on a screen either reading history books, keeping up with international news, or playing the latest releases on the Steam platform, which serve as the subject matter for much of his writing output. Currently, Lee is practicing the smidgen of Chinese that he picked up while visiting the Chinese mainland in hopes of someday being able to read certain historical texts in their original language.

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Rich Guy Yachts Just Keep Getting Longer

“if the rest of the world learns what it’s like to live on a yacht like this, they’re gonna bring back the guillotine,” american yachtsman bill duker said..

In case you need an even stronger indication that normal people are being taken for a ride in late-stage capitalism: historic inflation is being accompanied by a worldwide boom in the number of billionaires. All these new members of the ultra wealthy are buying super, mega and “giga” yachts to set them apart from land-based poors.

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There are so many deeply incredible and infuriating pieces of information from this New Yorker story about the world of private yachts that I’m going to encourage you to spend time reading the whole in-depth piece. Here’s a few bits that caught my eye, like describing a different kind of embarrassment of riches: having too small a yacht.

A big ship is a floating manse, with a hierarchy written right into the nomenclature. If it has a crew working aboard, it’s a yacht. If it’s more than ninety-eight feet, it’s a superyacht. After that, definitions are debated, but people generally agree that anything more than two hundred and thirty feet is a megayacht, and more than two hundred and ninety-five is a gigayacht. The world contains about fifty-four hundred superyachts, and about a hundred gigayachts. For the moment, a gigayacht is the most expensive item that our species has figured out how to own. In 2019, the hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin bought a quadruplex on Central Park South for two hundred and forty million dollars, the highest price ever paid for a home in America. In May, an unknown buyer spent about a hundred and ninety-five million on an Andy Warhol silk-screen portrait of Marilyn Monroe. In luxury-yacht terms, those are ordinary numbers. “There are a lot of boats in build well over two hundred and fifty million dollars,” Jamie Edmiston, a broker in Monaco and London, told me. His buyers are getting younger and more inclined to spend long stretches at sea. “High-speed Internet, telephony, modern communications have made working easier,” he said. “Plus, people made a lot more money earlier in life.” A Silicon Valley C.E.O. told me that one appeal of boats is that they can “absorb the most excess capital.” He explained, “Rationally, it would seem to make sense for people to spend half a billion dollars on their house and then fifty million on the boat that they’re on for two weeks a year, right? But it’s gone the other way. People don’t want to live in a hundred-thousand-square-foot house. Optically, it’s weird. But a half-billion-dollar boat, actually, is quite nice.” Staluppi, of Palm Beach Gardens, is content to spend three or four times as much on his yachts as on his homes. Part of the appeal is flexibility. “If you’re on your boat and you don’t like your neighbor, you tell the captain, ‘Let’s go to a different place,’ ” he said. On land, escaping a bad neighbor requires more work: “You got to try and buy him out or make it uncomfortable or something.” The preference for sea-based investment has altered the proportions of taste. Until recently, the Silicon Valley C.E.O. said, “a fifty-metre boat was considered a good-sized boat. Now that would be a little bit embarrassing.” In the past twenty years, the length of the average luxury yacht has grown by a third, to a hundred and sixty feet.

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Or this portion, describing the amount of both pollution and wealthy self-awareness generated by these giants:

Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the yachting community was straining to manage its reputation as a gusher of carbon emissions (one well-stocked diesel yacht is estimated to produce as much greenhouse gas as fifteen hundred passenger cars), not to mention the fact that the world of white boats is overwhelmingly white. In a candid aside to a French documentarian, the American yachtsman Bill Duker said, “If the rest of the world learns what it’s like to live on a yacht like this, they’re gonna bring back the guillotine.”

But what these big-ass boats really represent to their ultra-wealthy owners is the largest waste of money possible, or as Silicone Valley CEO put it, ““absorb the most excess capital.”

The latest fashions include imax theatres, hospital equipment that tests for dozens of pathogens, and ski rooms where guests can suit up for a helicopter trip to a mountaintop. The longtime owner, who had returned the previous day from his yacht, told me, “No one today—except for assholes and ridiculous people—lives on land in what you would call a deep and broad luxe life. Yes, people have nice houses and all of that, but it’s unlikely that the ratio of staff to them is what it is on a boat.” After a moment, he added, “Boats are the last place that I think you can get away with it.” Even among the truly rich, there is a gap between the haves and the have-yachts. One boating guest told me about a conversation with a famous friend who keeps one of the world’s largest yachts. “He said, ‘The boat is the last vestige of what real wealth can do.’ What he meant is, You have a chef, and I have a chef. You have a driver, and I have a driver. You can fly privately, and I fly privately. So, the one place where I can make clear to the world that I am in a different fucking category than you is the boat.”

Check out the whole story to see how the other side lives. It might motivate you to sharpen up the old guillotine blades while you’re at it.

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Kenneth C. Griffin Supports Phipps Ocean Park Restoration

The founder and CEO of Citadel and founder of Griffin Catalyst gifted a landmark $7 million gift for Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach's project

The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach announced a landmark $7 million gift from Kenneth C. Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel and founder of Griffin Catalyst, to support the restoration of Phipps Ocean Park. The gift will increase the park’s accessibility and appeal as a public space and recreational facility with the restoration of natural ecosystems and the addition of new features, including the Kenneth C. Griffin Coastal Conservancy, which will serve as a cornerstone for environmental and cultural education in the region.

The $30 million restoration of the 20-acre Phipps Ocean Park is the Preservation Foundation’s most ambitious project to date. Phipps Ocean Park reflects the foundation’s commitment to changing Palm Beach’s landscape by increasing the prevalence of native plants on the island in an effort to reduce the use of pesticides and water, while supporting wildlife and creating more resilient coastlines.

Propelled by a desire to secure access to the beach in perpetuity, the Phipps Family donated 1,200 feet of ocean frontage for use as a public park in 1948. The park’s redesign by landscape architect Raymond Jungles honors the original vision, with a bold new master plan that articulates a vision in which sustainable plantings, unobstructed ocean views, and educational resources create an eco-park alive with promise and imagination.

Instilling an early love of nature and inspiring the next generation of stewards are key components of the project. The relocated and restored Little Red Schoolhouse takes center stage in the plan and is enhanced by architecture designed by Fairfax & Sammons that captures the heritage spirit of the place. Relocation of the 1886 schoolhouse will protect the landmark and ensure that the schoolchildren of Palm Beach County have continuous access to the Preservation Foundation’s living history program, which takes fourth graders back in time to receive an 1890s education for a day in a one-room wooden schoolhouse.

Standing adjacent to the schoolhouse, the forthcoming Coastal Restoration Center will function as a nursery and propagation facility for native plants that will support healthy beach dune ecosystems within the park and throughout the town, while providing hands-on learning experiences for children and adults alike. A bespoke playground by Danish designer Monstrum will complement the park’s native flora and teach about local wildlife through enormous play structures.

The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach has collaborated closely with the Town of Palm Beach, which owns the park, to develop its plans for Phipps Ocean Park since the summer of 2020. The project is on track for a targeted start date of June 2024 and is expected to be completed in 15 months. Using the funds raised from the Preservation Foundation, this long-underutilized space will be restored into an extraordinary public landscape that fully realizes the Phipps family’s vision for their 1948 gift: a beautiful public beach and oceanfront park that celebrates the unique scenic quality of Palm Beach.

For more information about the project and the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, visit palmbeachpreservation.org .

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Ships Gallery Reopens at Griffin MSI

Iconic ships gallery undergoes conservation project at museum of science and industry, chicago.

CHICAGO (November 3, 2016)— The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry has conserved its historic collection of model ships and renovated the iconic Ships Gallery exhibit. The new Ships Gallery , presented by Captain Dave Truitt, showcases the highlights of ship design and evolution through beautifully detailed model ships. The permanent exhibit will officially reopen to the public on November 10, 2016 after five months of conservation and renovation.

Griffin MSI has consistently displayed an eclectic ship model collection to its guests since opening in 1933. In January 2015, Griffin MSI began plans to completely reinvent the exhibit and conserve all of its delicate model ships. The project kicked off in June 2016, temporarily closing down the gallery. The new Ships Gallery presents 43 exquisitely crafted scale ship models, retelling the ships’ storied backgrounds—from the earliest beginnings to today’s mega-ships.

New features in the Ships Gallery include:

• 15 newly-exhibited ships, including 10 custom-made models, specifically created for the exhibition. High-tech racing yachts, modern-day fishing vessels and a cutting-edge scientific research ship are among the new models that guests will enjoy.
• Scientifically cleaned and conserved historic ship models by a team of trained conservators from Litas Lipriani.
• Four new dioramas, commissioned to show the highlights of shipping history, built by Model Builders, Inc. Scenic artist Sean Murtha created custom backdrop paintings to bring these scenes to life.
• The addition of a racing section, including Oracle Team USA’s high-tech catamaran from America’s Cup.
• Restoration of the hands-on sailing ship deck, a perennial favorite, to its original beauty. Take the ship’s wheel and bark out pirate’s orders! Exhibit renovation by Ravenswood Studio.
• New exhibit storyline and graphics by a dedicated Griffin MSI exhibits team. 
• New energy-efficient LED lighting that protects and beautifully showcases the models 
• The return of two freshly cleaned antique ships’ figureheads from the 19th century, which welcome guests into the exhibit.

“Our goal is to inspire each guest by tapping into their curiosity to look closer at the details of these magnificent ships, and learn more about this globally connected system,” said John Llewellyn, Ships project lead at Griffin MSI. “The Ships Gallery is a historic favorite of our guests, and this contemporary upgrade will give the next generation the opportunity to appreciate these model ships for many more years to come.”

The Ships Gallery provides an unparalleled look into ship design and evolution. In a new, richly detailed series of dioramas, highlights of nautical history will come to life, from the humble beginnings of maritime trade, all the way to the present day. Guests will learn about shipping and navigation, including advances in early ship design, boating as a sport, ocean liners and how the modern global economy that depends on ships. 

More press photos and b-roll of the conservation and renovation are available here.

The Ships Gallery is located on the Lower Level and is included in Museum Entry ($21.95 for adults, $12.95 for kids 3-11). For more information, visit msichicago.org. 

About the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry

The Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry (Griffin MSI) offers world-class and uniquely interactive experiences that support the Museum's mission: to inspire the inventive genius in everyone. As one of the largest science museums in the world featuring award-winning exhibits and hands-on activities, a visit to the Griffin MSI is guaranteed to connect fun and learning. Griffin MSI is committed to offering comprehensive educational programs­for students, administrators, teachers and families­that make a difference in local communities and contribute to MSI's goal to transform and illuminate STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) pathways for people of all ages. The Museum is grateful for the support of its generous donors and guests who make its work possible. The Griffin MSI is also supported in part by the people of Chicago through the Chicago Park District. For more information, visit msichicago.org or call (773) 684-1414.

Ships Gallery Press Release

Ships Gallery  Press Release (PDF)

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The new Ships Gallery , presented by Captain Dave Truitt, showcases the highlights of ship design and evolution through beautifully detailed model ships. [J.B. Spector/Griffin Museum of Science and Industry]

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Model ships were scientifically cleaned and conserved by a team of trained conservators from Litas Lipriani.

[J.B. Spector/Griffin Museum of Science and Industry]

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The new Ships Gallery presents 43 exquisitely crafted scale ship models, retelling the ships’ storied backgrounds.

The new Ships Gallery includes new custom-built dioramas, setting the scene for each model ship.

Images presented here are for the express use for promoting the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. All images must be properly credited. Images may not be reproduced by third parties without express written permission from the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.

Email Public Relations at [email protected] .

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Kenneth C. Griffin makes gift of $300 million to FAS

Graduate school of arts and sciences named in honor of alum’s four decades of philanthropy, support for expanding opportunity, advancing excellence.

Harvard University announced today that business leader and philanthropist Kenneth C. Griffin ’89 has made a gift of $300 million to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) to support the School’s mission and to advance cutting-edge research and expand access and excellence in education for students and scholars regardless of economic circumstances. This unrestricted gift furthers Griffin’s philanthropic legacy at Harvard, which spans four decades and totals more than $500 million.

In recognition of Griffin’s commitment to Harvard’s mission over the years, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences will be renamed the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in his honor.

Griffin’s most recent gift builds on his commitment to expanding opportunity and his legacy of transformational support for the FAS and across Harvard. His $150 million contribution to financial aid in 2014 remains the largest single gift to undergraduate financial aid and to Harvard College. That endowed gift currently supports 228 undergraduates — and has supported more than 600 to date. It also established the Griffin Leadership Challenge, which inspired alumni and other donors to establish 654 new scholarships during a four-year period and made it possible for the FAS to raise $600 million for undergraduate financial aid.

Griffin’s latest gift positions Harvard to continue to attract the best students and scholars from around the world.

“Ken’s exceptional generosity and steadfast devotion enable excellence and opportunity at Harvard,” said Harvard President Larry Bacow. “His choice to support FAS underscores the power of education to transform lives and to expand the reach of our research in every field imaginable. It has been a great pleasure to get to know Ken throughout my presidency, and I am deeply and personally appreciative of the confidence he has placed in us — and in our mission — to do good in the world.”

Griffin’s gift to the FAS provides essential resources to support every aspect of the School’s mission, particularly long-term excellence in teaching and research within and across its many fields and disciplines. The FAS is home to Harvard’s undergraduate program as well as all of Harvard’s Ph.D. programs. The 40 academic departments and 30-plus centers of the FAS support a community unparalleled in its academic excellence across the broadest range of liberal arts and sciences disciplines, powering truth-seeking and problem-solving at Harvard and well beyond.

The gift also underscores the power of graduate education, with graduate students and faculty creating new knowledge that enhances understanding across every area of study. Those students become the next generation of scholars, with some advancing knowledge and innovation as academic leaders at universities throughout the world and others applying their research to create new therapies, technologies, and tools to advance human health or help drive the economy.

Griffin’s gift enables such pathways and provides a firm foundation for the FAS to pursue student success and cultivate deep expertise and new collaborations across disciplines and departments.

“Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences is committed to advancing ideas that will shape humanity’s future, while providing important insight into our past,” said Griffin. “I am excited to support the impactful work of this great institution.”

“I have witnessed firsthand the impact of Ken’s philanthropy in my time as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences,” said Claudine Gay, Edgerley Family Dean of the FAS. “His extraordinary investment in our institution and, notably, his understanding of the power of unrestricted funds have been essential to our School’s ability to confidently advance academic excellence in service to the world, while navigating headwinds from the pandemic to shifts in the economy.”

Griffin’s gift to the FAS comes at a moment of opportunity as the School undertakes a broad strategic planning process focused on delivering a forward-looking vision for excellence in graduate education, faculty support and development, and organization of academic communities. As part of that broader work in the FAS, the Graduate School convened a faculty-led working group focused on admissions and education, designed to ensure that students graduate with the potential to serve as intellectual leaders for the 21st century.

“I am deeply and personally appreciative of the confidence he has placed in us — and in our mission — to do good in the world.” Larry Bacow, Harvard president

As the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences takes on its new name, it is also marking its 150th anniversary. Situated within the FAS,  Harvard Griffin GSAS offers Ph.D. and select master’s degrees in over 57 departments and programs. Through degree and non-degree study and visiting and outreach programs, the School connects students with all parts of the University.

“As we celebrate our sesquicentennial this year, we are looking ahead to our next 150 years and imagining what our current students will achieve,” said Emma Dench, Dean of the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History and of the Classics. “This investment in the Faculty of the Arts and Sciences cannot help but support our students as they engage in the inquiry and innovation that will ultimately lead to positive impact on the world.”

Noting the celebration of the School’s milestone, Bacow reflected on how important graduate education and research are to Harvard’s mission. Graduate research helped create vaccines to curb the spread of COVID-19, a development made possible by basic research done decades ago that helped scientists understand how mRNA could be used to code proteins that incite a protective immune response, thereby controlling viral infections. Research in philosophy and ethics is now helping guide how colleges and universities educate those who are making advances in artificial intelligence. And research in data science is helping scholars and policymakers understand sources of economic opportunity and social mobility.

Griffin’s most recent gift builds on his previous support for faculty and students, including the $150 million gift in 2014 to expand undergraduate financial aid.

Last month, Harvard announced another expansion of the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative (HFAI) for low- and middle-income families. Beginning with the class of 2027, the cost to attend Harvard College, which includes tuition, room, board, and all fees, will be free for families with annual incomes below $85,000. This is an increase from the $75,000 annual income threshold announced last year. Today more than half of undergraduate families receive need-based scholarships and one in four families pay nothing toward the cost of a Harvard education.

Griffin, who concentrated in economics and began investing from his dorm room in Cabot House as a sophomore, has also made gifts to the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Business School. He has supported important University priorities such as stem cell research and, recently, a professorship in economics in honor of Professor Martin Feldstein. In 1999, he established the Wayne R. Gratz Scholarship in honor of his grandfather.

Griffin is the founder and chief executive officer of Citadel, one of the world’s leading alternative investment firms. He is also the founder and non-executive chairman of Citadel Securities, one of the largest market makers in the world. His innovative philanthropic initiatives have made him a leader in advancing breakthroughs in science and medicine, enabling longer and healthier lives, as well as in expanding access and opportunity in education, equipping the next generation of leaders with the tools needed to succeed. Griffin’s leadership during the COVID-19 crisis helped mobilize partners across government, business, and healthcare to fund critical research and safely rescue hundreds of Americans from Wuhan, China. He also provided crucial thought leadership that laid the foundation for Operation Warp Speed – a U.S. program designed to accelerate the creation and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.

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Kenneth C. Griffin Exploring the Planets Gallery

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Kenneth Griffin Biography, Age, Net Worth, Wife, Girlfriend, Children, House, Yacht, Wiki.

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