Richard and Kathy Fuld, Virtuous Wealth Under Siege

BBC:

The head of failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers has told Congress that he took home about $300m in pay and bonuses over the past eight years.

Yes, but he and his wife, Kathy, were also quite philanthropic:

A foundation set up by Richard S. Fuld Jr., Lehman’s chairman and chief executive — the Kathy and Richard S. Fuld Jr. Family Foundation — gave away about $5 million in 2006. The Fulds are still on the philanthropy scene, and are among the co-chairmen at the New York Public Library’s annual gala on Nov. 3. But it is too early to forecast their future role, given the changing economic environment.

He does have good taste and moves in good company.

"Carnegie Hall is delighted to present its second Medal of Excellence to Richard S. Fuld, Jr.," said Sanford I. Weill, chairman of Carnegie Hall's board of trustees and honorary chair of the gala. "For over a decade, Dick's firm leadership has contributed to the growth and prosperity of Lehman Brothers and maintained its standing as a top global finance firm...."

Kathy Fuld, a Trustee at the Museuam of Modern Art, is, apparently, selling some of  pieces from her art collection for $15 - 20 million. She calls the end of Lehman "profoundly sad," and emphasizes that her art purchases were made carefully over time:

“I have a budget, and I buy very slowly,” she said. “A lot of looking, seeing and thinking goes into every decision. It’s a very old-fashioned way to collect.”

Who is the writer who might do justice to such virtue? Henry James? Edith Wharton? Petronius? 

Comments

[R. J.]

Kathy Fuld is the rare individual who has both the means to assemble a first rate collection and the discernment to do so.

[phil]

Thanks, R.J., quite a tribute. Good things can be done with good taste and great riches. To inquire too closely into the circulation of funds upward would be surly. We should be grateful that a percentage of what rises falls back as philanthropy, patronage, and the personal graces of an accomplished woman.