Duke alumnus and philanthropist David Rubenstein receives Presidential Medal of Freedom

Investor and philanthropist David Rubenstein, Trinity ‘70, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom Saturday by President Joe Biden.

The medal is the nation’s “highest civilian honor,” recognizing those “who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values or security of the United States, world peace or other significant societal, public or private endeavors.”

Rubenstein is one of 19 individuals to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom this year, including four who were recognized posthumously.

He graduated magna cum laude from Duke with a degree in political science, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa. He later received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1973.

Rubenstein has given back a hundredfold to the University community over the years.

He has donated significant sums of money to Duke, supporting the Rubenstein Arts Center, Rubenstein Hall at the Sanford School of Public Policy and the Rubenstein Library, which hosts the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscripts Library. He has also funded the University’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative and the David M. Rubenstein Scholars Program — started in 2017 to support students from first-generation and low-income backgrounds with an initial gift of $20 million — having been the first member of his family to attend college himself.

Rubenstein also donated to the public policy program, Duke athletics, Jewish Life at Duke, and graduate and professional internships.

He was the co-chair of Duke Forward, the University’s most recent major fundraising campaign that raised $3.85 billion over a seven-year period.

Rubenstein served on the University’s Board of Trustees from 2005 to 2017, acting as chair from 2013 to 2017. He delivered the commencement address for the Class of 2017, and two years later, he was awarded the University Medal — Duke’s highest honor for service.

Rubenstein’s philanthropy extends beyond the bounds of campus.

In 2010, he was among the original 40 Americans to sign onto The Giving Pledge, a charitable campaign co-founded by Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, Trinity ‘86 and Fuqua ‘87. The signatories pledged to donate over half of their wealth to “address some of society’s most pressing problems.”

Rubenstein, who has been described by the White House Historical Association as a “patriotic philanthropist,” has contributed to the restoration and repair of national sites of significance including the Washington Monument, the Iwo Jima Memorial, the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, the National Archives, the National Zoo, the Library of Congress and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. In addition, he has provided the U.S. government with long-term loans of his copies of such rare documents as the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment.

He has also received the 2015 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy and the Museum of Modern Art’s David Rockefeller Award.

Soon after graduating from UChicago, Rubenstein practiced law in New York before serving as chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments. He then became deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy in the Jimmy Carter administration from 1977 to 1981.

After leaving the White House, Rubenstein practiced law again for several years, this time in Washington, D.C. In 1987, he founded The Carlyle Group — now among the world’s largest private investment firms — managing $425 billion from 28 offices across the globe.

Rubenstein continues to serve as co-chairman of Carlyle, and he is also currently the chairman and CEO of the Baltimore Orioles Major League Baseball team in his home city.

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