Henry B. Laufer
Born (1945-08-13) 13 August 1945
Alma materPrinceton University
Occupation(s)Hedge fund manager, investor, mathematician, philanthropist
TitleVice President & Chief Scientist (Renaissance Technologies)
SpouseMarsha Zlatin Laufer
Children3
Scientific career
ThesisSheaf Cohomology and Envelopes of Holomorphy (1965)
Doctoral advisorRobert Clifford Gunning
Doctoral studentsStephen Shing-Toung Yau

Henry B. Laufer (born 1945) is an American hedge fund manager, investor, mathematician, and philanthropist. He served as the Vice President of Research at Renaissance Technologies.

Early life

Henry B. Laufer was born to a Jewish family in 1945.[1][2][3] He received his PhD from Princeton University in 1965, studying with Robert Gunning.

Career

Laufer joined the mathematics department at the State University of New York at Stony Brook as a faculty member in 1971. His research focused on complex variables and algebraic topology. He left Stony Brook in 1992 to join Renaissance Technologies.[4] In 2015, a conference was held for his 70th anniversary at Tsinghua University in China.[1]

Laufer co-founded the Medallion Fund with Jim Simons in 1988.[5] Laufer served as chief scientist and vice president of research at Renaissance Technologies, its parent company.[6] He now serves on its board of directors.[6]

Laufer earned US$125,000,000 in 2008, during the financial crisis of 2007–2008.[7] The following year, in 2009, he was named one of "Wall Street's Highest Earners" by Forbes, with an income of US$390,000,000.[8]

Philanthropy and political contributions

Laufer and his wife enabled the foundation of the Louis and Beatrice Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology at Stony Brook University with a donation in 2008.[9][10] The couple joined Jim and Marilyn Simons to endow the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, with an unrestricted $70 million gift in 2022. The school honored the donors by renaming the Institute to the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute.[11][12]

Laufer donated US$500,000 to Correct the Record, a political action committee that supported Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, in February 2016.[13] Meanwhile, in April 2016, Laufer and his wife organized a US$500-ticket fundraiser for Clinton in Florida.[14][15] The couple also gave around $950,000 to Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign.[16]

Personal life

Laufer is married to Dr. Marsha Zlatin Laufer, a speech-language pathologist, philanthropist and political activist.[17][18] She served as the chairwoman of the Democratic Party for the town of Brookhaven, New York from 2001 to 2009.[19][20] The couple resides in Manalapan, Florida.[14] They have 3 children.

As of 2023, Laufer's net worth was estimated at $2.6 billion by Forbes.[21]

Selected bibliography

  • Laufer, Henry B. (1971), Normal two-dimensional singularities, Annals of Mathematics Studies, 71, Princeton University Press
  • Laufer, Henry B. (1977), "On minimally elliptic singularities", American Journal of Mathematics, 99 (6): 1257–1295, doi:10.2307/2374025, ISSN 0002-9327, JSTOR 2374025
  • Laufer, Henry B. (1972), "On rational singularities", American Journal of Mathematics, 94 (2): 597–608, doi:10.2307/2374639, ISSN 0002-9327, JSTOR 2374639

References

  1. 1 2 "International Conference on Singularity Theory -In Honor of Henry Laufer's 70th Birthday". Tsinghua Sanya International Mathematics Forum. Tsinghua University. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  2. ↑ The Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County. "Annual Report 2013" (PDF).
  3. ↑ Jewish Adoption and Family Care Options (JAFCO). "JAFCO Annual Report 2014" (PDF).
  4. ↑ "Former Stony Brook University Faculty Members Drs. Henry and Marsha Laufer Announce $10 Million Gift To Capital Campaign". commcgi.cc.stonybrook.edu. Archived from the original on 2010-06-06. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
  5. ↑ Kouwe, Zachary (October 8, 2009). "Hedge Firm Says Chief Will Retire". The New York Times. Retrieved August 31, 2016. He opened Medallion in 1988 with Henry Laufer, a former Princeton mathematics professor who is still Renaissance's chief researcher. Mr. Simons's success has made him a billionaire several times over.
  6. 1 2 "Company Overview of Renaissance Technologies Corp.: Henry Laufer". Bloomberg. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  7. ↑ Story, Louise (March 24, 2009). "Top Hedge Fund Managers Do Well in a Down Year". The New York Times. Retrieved August 31, 2016. While Mr. Simons of Renaissance Technologies landed the No. 1 spot, one of his partners, Henry B. Laufer, is also on the list with earnings of $125 million.
  8. ↑ Schwartz, Peter J. (September 4, 2009). "Wall Street's Highest Earners". Forbes. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  9. ↑ happenings press release
  10. ↑ Laufer Center webpage
  11. ↑ "Mathematical Sciences Research Institute receives $70 million gift". Philanthropy News Digest. Candid. May 23, 2022.
  12. ↑ "Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Receives $70M Gift; Largest Unrestricted Endowed Gift to a U.S.-Based Mathematics Institute". Business Wire (Press release). May 19, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Correct the Record: Contributors, 2016 cycle". OpenSecrets. OpenSecrets. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  14. 1 2 "Hillary Clinton attends fundraisers in South Florida". WPBF. April 12, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  15. ↑ Bennett, George (April 12, 2016). "As Hillary Clinton raises money in Manalapan, Florida GOP video quotes Bernie Sanders". The Palm Beach Post. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  16. ↑ Tindera, Michela (February 17, 2021). "Here Are The Billionaires Who Donated To Joe Biden's 2020 Presidential Campaign". Forbes.
  17. ↑ "Dr. Marsha Laufer: The Human Connection". College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. University of Maryland. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  18. ↑ Mayhew, Augustus (May 26, 2009). "Palm Beach Real Estate Roulette". New York Social Diary. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  19. ↑ Toy, Vivian S. (November 27, 2005). "A Novice Revives Brookhaven's Democrats". The New York Times. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  20. ↑ Brand, Rick (November 9, 2009). "Laufer, Brookhaven Democratic chief, stepping down". Newsday. Retrieved August 31, 2016. Marsha Laufer, who turned the Brookhaven Democratic Party from a perennial also-ran into a highly competitive force in the once Republican-dominated town, said last night that she is stepping down after seven years on the job.
  21. ↑ "Henry Laufer". Forbes. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
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