Barre Seid

Barre Seid (born 1932) is an American businessman and political donor from Chicago. He was the owner of Tripp Lite, an electrical products manufacturer. Seid donated the company to Marble Freedom Trust, which in 2021 sold Tripp Lite to American Irish power company Eaton for US$1.65 billion.[1][2] Seid has made large contributions to conservative causes.

Barre Seid
Born1932 (age 90–91)
Alma materUniversity of Chicago (BA)
OccupationBusinessman
Known forFormer owner of Tripp Lite, political donor
Spouses
  • Adrienne Gruber
  • Barbara Landis

Early life and education

Seid was born in 1932 to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, Reuben and Anne Seid, and grew up on the South Side of Chicago.[2] He has two brothers.[2] Seid attended the University of Chicago under a special bachelor's degree program.[2] In 2010, Seid was given an honorary degree by Israel's Bar-Ilan University.[3]

Career

Following University of Chicago he served two years in the U.S. Army and returned to Chicago to take a job as an assistant to investor and businessman Graham Trippe, owner of Trippe Manufacturing.[2] In the mid-1960s, Seid became president of Trippe Manufacturing, an electrical products manufacturer now known as Tripp Lite, and held that position for more than 50 years. He owned 100% of the company.[2]

Donations

Public donations are made through the Barbara and Barre Seid Foundation.[4] He gave at least $775 million in charitable donations between 1996 and 2018.[2]

Educational

Seid is a benefactor of Hillsdale College.[5]

George Mason University

Seid is believed to be the anonymous donor who gave $20m to have the George Mason University School of Law renamed the Antonin Scalia Law School.[5]

Shimer College

From 2007 to 2008, Seid gave $825,000 to Shimer College as an anonymous donor through his foundation.[6] His donation was later made public by a former student who examined tax filings.[7][8] In January 2009, Thomas Lindsay became president of the school, with goals to increase the school's name recognition and build its board of trustees.[6] Through 2009, Lindsay increased the 22-member board by 13 members, with many having financial ties to Seid.[6] Many of the new board members shared conservative political affiliations, leading some alumni, students, and faculty to argue that the school was undergoing a "right-wing attempt to take over its board and administration."[7][9] In 2010, Lindsay moved to rewrite the school's mission statement, though he was faced with overwhelming opposition by the school's assembly of faculty, staff, and students.[6] The trustees adopted the redrafted statement in February, but by April, the trustees voted 18 to 16 to dismiss Lindsay from the presidency.[6][8]

Political

Seid opposed the ban of DDT and funded activists and researchers who opposed the ban.[5] Seid's giving reflects his belief that global warming is not the result of human emissions.[5] According to ProPublica, Seid appears to have given $17 million to fund the distribution of the documentary film Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West during the 2008 presidential campaign.[2] In 2008, the Clarion Fund sent out the film, on DVD, to 28 million houses and religious institutions.[10] Seid has anonymously supported the Foundation for Government Accountability.[4] He has also donated to the University of Chicago's Becker Friedman Institute for Economics and the Heartland Institute.[2] In 2020, Seid donated Tripp Lite to the newly created nonprofit group Marble Freedom Trust headed by Leonard Leo, a conservative legal activist. In March 2021, Marble Freedom Trust sold Tripp Lite to the Eaton Corporation for $1.65 billion.[2][1] The donation was made anonymously, but Seid's identity was first confirmed by The New York Times based on public financial disclosures.[4][1] The New York Times described the donation as "among the largest single contributions ever to a politically focused nonprofit."[1]

Personal life

Seid was married to Adrienne Gruber Seid, and in 1976, he established the Adrienne Gruber Seid Memorial Scholarship at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in memory of his late wife, who was a student there in the early 1960s.[11] Seid is married to Barbara Landis.[12][13] Since 2005, Landis is the general and artistic director of Chamber Opera Chicago, which was founded by Seid.[14] Seid identifies as a libertarian.[5] He has gone by the pseudonym Ebert or Elbert Howell.[5]

References
  1. Vogel, Kenneth P.; Goldmacher, Shane (August 22, 2022). "An Unusual $1.6 Billion Donation Bolsters Conservatives". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  2. Perez, Andrew; Kroll, Andy; Elliott, Justin (August 22, 2022). "How a Secretive Billionaire Handed His Fortune to the Architect of the Right-Wing Takeover of the Courts". ProPublica. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  3. Kampeas, Ron (August 23, 2022). "Pro-Israel donor Barre Seid donated $1.6 billion to conservative group". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  4. Tolan, Casey; Devine, Curt; Griffin, Drew (August 22, 2022). "Massive dark money windfall: New conservative group got $1.6 billion from single donor". CNN. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  5. Kroll, Andy; Elliott, Justin; Perez, Andrew (September 6, 2022). "How a Billionaire's "Attack Philanthropy" Secretly Funded Climate Denialism and Right-Wing Causes". propublica.org. ProPublica. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
  6. Troop, Don (February 25, 2010). "At a Tiny College, an Epic Battle Over Academic Authority". Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  7. Isaacs, Deanna (February 25, 2010). "Who's Buying Shimer?". Chicago Reader. Retrieved April 10, 2010.
  8. Stripling, Jack (April 21, 2010). "Old School Shimer". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  9. Isaacs, Deanna (December 10, 2009). "The Conservative Menace". Chicago Reader. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  10. Kindy, Kimberly (October 26, 2008). "Group Swamps Swing States With Movie on Radical Islam". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  11. "Adrienne Gruber Seid Memorial Scholarship". SAIC. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  12. "Barbara and Barre Seid Foundation: Grants for Chicago". Inside Philanthropy. April 3, 2020. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  13. "Met Opera 2014-15 Annual Report" (PDF). Met Opera. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  14. "Our History". Chamber Opera Chicago. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
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