Roger Hertog

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Person.png Roger Hertog   C-SPAN NNDB SourcewatchRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(businessman, financier, millionaire)
Roger Hertog.jpg
Born1941
The Bronx, New York City
NationalityUS
Alma materCity College
SpouseSusan Hertog
Member ofAmerican Enterprise Institute, Council on Foreign Relations/Members, Washington Institute for Near East Policy
US-Israeli millionaire, "the one man who has, far more than anyone else, financially enabled the neoconservative movement to exist"

Roger Hertog [1] is an American businessman, financier, and conservative philanthropist. He currently serves as president of the Hertog Foundation and chairman of the Tikvah Fund, which promotes Jewish thought and ideas.[2][3][4]

Hertog was described by Mark Gerson, "president of the investor-relations company the Gerson Lehrman Group and editor of The Neoconservative Reader", as the "one man who has, far more than anyone else, financially enabled this movement to exist", "this movement" being the "intertwined world of the neoconservatives".[5]

Early Career

Born to German Jewish immigrants, Hertog was raised in The Bronx and attended public schools. His first job was in the mail room of a financial company while attending City College at night. Eventually, he joined Oppenheimer & Co. in a clerical position. At Oppenheimer, he met his future business partner, Sanford Bernstein. In 1967, Hertog joined Sanford C. Bernstein, & Co. The struggling company went on to become one of the world's leading asset management firms. Hertog remained president of the firm until its merger with Alliance Capital Management in 2000. In 2002 it was valued at about $100 billion.[6]) He retired in 2006 from AllianceBernstein L.P. and remains Vice-Chairman Emeritus.[1][7][8]

Neoconservatism

In 2002, Hertog , New York moneyman Bruce Kovner, chairman of the Caxton Corporation, and Conrad Black, "helped fund a new newspaper, The New York Sun,[9], which closed in 2008.

In February 2003, the Sun's "most memorable contribution to American letters [was] its statement that Iraq War protesters were guilty of 'treason'."[10][11]

Hertog and Kovner "also chipped in to join" neoliberal Martin Peretz as co-owners of The New Republic (TNR),[5][12] which was completely bought out in February 2007 by CanWest.[13]

Hertog and Kovner are also on the board of the Manhattan Institute, where "Gerson and William Kristol are also trustees, as well as the Washington, D.C.–based American Enterprise Institute.[14] The A.E.I., a favored neoconservative think tank, has recently [2003] served as a kind of human-resource office" for the Bush administration. The A.E.I. was also "the venue" on February 26, 2003, that President George W. Bush "chose to step up to explain his intentions toward Iraq."[5]

Hertog is an executive committee member at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy,[15] a member of the U.S. board of trustees of The Israel Center for Social & Economic Progress (ICSEP),[16] a member of the board of trustees at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy,[17] and a member of the board of directors of The Jerusalem Post's America's Voices in Israel.[18] The Post was owned by New York Sun partner Conrad Black.

Hertog is "a primary financial backer behind"[5] and serves on the board of the Shalem Center[19],[20] a "think tank known as the A.E.I. of Israel.[5] In December 2005, Hertog was the Center's president.[21] According to William Kristol, who also serves on the board, the Center was "founded as Israel's first 'neoconservative think-tank,' ... in an effort to give the Israeli right a better foundation in history, economics, archaeology and other topics."[22]

Hertog contributed $100,000 to the Convention Host Committee for the 2004 Republican National Convention held in New York City.[23]

In March 2002, Hertog was a "member of the staunchly conservative Club for Growth, a group of self-described 'supply side Reaganites' run by TNR nemesis Stephen Moore."[24]

In January 2007, Hertog became chairman of the board of trustees of the New York Historical Society.[25] He is also a member of the advisory board of The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, serves on the board of the New York Public Library, and is the founder of the School Choice Scholarships Foundation.[3]

Hertog with Benjamin Netanyahu at Hudson Institute

Hertog is co-president of the Hertog Foundation and chairman of the Tikvah Fund.[26][27]

His family foundation supports several educational fellowships for college students and young professionals. In 2010, the foundation launched the Political Studies Program, an elite, full-scholarship summer program for undergraduates in the theory and practice of politics. In 2013, in partnership with the Institute for the Study of War, Hertog expanded by launching a two-week summer seminar on warfare and military doctrine for advanced undergraduates, the War Studies Program. The Foundation offers other programs and seminars in three main areas: Political Thought and Philosophy; War and Foreign Affairs; and Economics and Domestic Policy.[28][29][30]

Hertog often donates to Jewish organizations and causes. His main avenue is through the Tikvah Fund. Hertog has been the chair of Tikvah since 1999. Tikvah runs and invests in a wide range of initiatives, including educational programs, publications, and fellowships, around the world. As part of his work with Tikvah, Hertog helped fund the Shalem Center in Israel.[31] The Center has since become Shalem College, accredited in 2013 to confer bachelor's degrees.[32] Hertog has also given money to the Anti-Defamation League, Taglit-Birthright Israel, and American Friends of Shalva.[7]

During the 1990s, Hertog, along with other investors, launched one of the first privately funded school-voucher programs, funding 1,000 scholarships annually for poor families interested in sending their children to private schools. Over 25,000 applied for the scholarships. He has invested in the Success Charter Network and Families for Excellent Schools in New York. He also funded a study on the charter school movement in New York City and ways to better invest in it.[1][33]

On November 15, 2007, Hertog was awarded a National Humanities Medal in a White House ceremony with U.S. President George W. Bush.[34] The citation accompanying the award praised Hertog for "enlightened philanthropy on behalf of the humanities. His wisdom and generosity have rejuvenated institutions that are keepers of American memory."[35][36]

 

Events Participated in

EventStartEndLocation(s)Description
Bilderberg/200315 May 200318 May 2003France
Versailles		The 51st Bilderberg, in Versailles, France
Herzliya Conference/200621 January 200624 January 2006Israel
Tel Aviv
Reichman University		A 2006 conference on Israeli security needs.
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References

  1. ↑ a b c http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/topic/excellence_in_philanthropy/the_business_of_big_ideas
  2. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/09/giving/roger-hertog-reviver-of-the-new-york-historical-society.html
  3. ↑ a b Advisory Board: Roger Hertog, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
  4. ↑ Alliancebernstein.com
  5. ↑ a b c d e Joe Hagan, "President Bush's Neoconservatives Were Spawned Right Here in N.Y.C., New Home of the Right-Wing Gloat," The New York Observer, unknown 2003.
  6. ↑ "Financier Roger Hertog Speaks On the Media and Education," CUNY Matters, November 2003.
  7. ↑ a b http://www.insidephilanthropy.com/wall-street-donors/roger-hertog.htm
  8. ↑ Sterling, Kristin. "Hertog Program Celebrates 10 Years of Mentoring", Columbia News, April 26, 2005; retrieved May 30, 2013.
  9. ↑ NYSun.com.
  10. ↑ Philip Weiss, "Israel Lobby Watch," Agence Global, September 1, 2006.
  11. ↑ Joe Conason, Opinion: "Sun's First Amendment eclipse," Joe Conason's Journal/Salon, February 10, 2003.
  12. ↑ Joel Beinin, Professor of Middle East History, "The Israelization of American Middle East Policy Discourse," Department of History, Stanford University, circa 2002. See footnote #9.
  13. ↑ "CanWest Buys out the New Republic," The New York Observer, February 27, 2007.
  14. ↑ American Enterprise Institute, NNDB.com. Herzog was on the board of trustees since October 2006.
  15. ↑ About Us, Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
  16. ↑ About: US Board of Governors, ICSEP.org.
  17. ↑ People, ISGAP.org.
  18. ↑ About Us, The Jerusalem Post.
  19. ↑ Shalem.org.
  20. ↑ News Release: "Baruch Honors Program Receives $1 Million Gift from Noted Alum. Roger Hertog’s Gift is the Largest in the History of Baruch’s Honors Program," Baruch College, The City University of New York, October 24, 2006.
  21. ↑ "Press: Student Activism Moves From Rallies to Journals," The Jewish Week (The Current), December 2005.
  22. ↑ Steven Erlanger, "King David's Palace Is Found, Archaeologist Says," New York Times, August 5, 2005.
  23. ↑ Top Donors (over $100,000) to the 2004 Convention Host Committees as of 12/31/04, CFINST.org.
  24. ↑ "Who's who," Washington Monthly (TheFreeLibrary.com), March 1, 2002.
  25. ↑ "Roger Hertog New Chairman of The Board of The New-York Historical Society," New-York Historical Society, January 22, 2007.
  26. ↑ https://hertogfoundation.org/about
  27. ↑ http://tikvahfund.org/about/board/
  28. ↑ https://hertogfoundation.org/programs/political-studies
  29. ↑ https://hertogfoundation.org/programs/war-studies
  30. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/03/opinion/sunday/can-i-go-to-great-books-camp.html
  31. ↑ http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Shalem-Center-gets-major-grant-for-college
  32. ↑ http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Israel-accredits-first-liberal-arts-college
  33. ↑ http://www.insidephilanthropy.com/wall-street-wallets/2015/4/25/giving-it-now-the-philanthropic-plan-of-roger-and-susan-hert.html
  34. ↑ "6 Academics Receive National Honors in Arts and Humanities", The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 16, 2007.
  35. ↑ "Humanities Medals Awarded by President Bush". NNEH News Archive November 15, 2007.
  36. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20080306192416/http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/11/20071115-1.html
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