Robert Addison Day

Robert Addison Day (December 11, 1943 – September 14, 2023) was an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder and former chairman and chief executive officer of Trust Company of the West until 2009. He was the chairman and president of the W. M. Keck Foundation.

Robert Addison Day
Born(1943-12-11)December 11, 1943
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died (aged 79)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Businessman, investor, philanthropist
Spouse(s)Marlyn Gates
Kelly Day (divorced)
Marina Day (divorced)
Children3
RelativesWilliam Myron Keck (grandfather)

Early life

Robert Addison Day was born in Los Angeles, California on December 11, 1943.[1][2] He received a Bachelor of Science in economics from Claremont McKenna College in 1965.[3]

Financial career

Day started his career at the financial firm White, Weld and Company in New York City.[4] In 1969, Day founded and managed the portfolio of the Cypress Partners LP, an early example of a hedge fund focusing on recognizing undervalued or overvalued companies.[5] In 1971, he founded the Trust Company of the West (now known as the TCW Group), an asset management firm.[6][7] In 2001, Day sold 70 percent of TCW Group to the Société Générale for US$2.5 billion, with 30 percent of the company remaining employee-owned.[8]

Day was also the founder and chairman of Oakmont Corporation, a Los Angeles-based, family-owned investment company founded in 1980.[6][7]

Other ventures

His family are the owners of Cabo Del Sol, an 1,800 acre master planned community located in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. In 2021, Day and Oakmont Corporation announced plans for a new Four Seasons Resort and Residences on Cabo Del Sol, next to the Cove Club, a 500-acre private club and community located within Cabo Del Sol.[9]

Day, as the controlling owner of the Foley Timber and Land Company, owned approximately 560,000 acres of timberland in Florida, making him one of the largest landowners in Florida at the time. Day's partners in the Foley Timber and Land Company included Howard H. Leach, Ken Langone and Henry Kissinger. The timberland was purchased in 1994 from Procter and Gamble, and when it was sold in 2015, it was considered to be the "largest undeveloped tract of private property east of the Mississippi River."[8]

Board positions

Day previously served on the board of directors of Freeport-McMoRan, Fisher Scientific, and Société Générale.[2] He sat on the board of trustees of the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, and the Brookings Institution, where he was chairman from 1990 to 1998.[3] Day was a member of the Business Council.[4] From 2001 to 2003, he sat on the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.[2] He was also a member of the Alfalfa Club, the California Club, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Council on Foreign Relations.[2] Day was a Los Angeles County Museum of Art life trustee.[10]

Philanthropy

In 2007, Day made a gift of $200 million to his alma mater Claremont McKenna College, creating the Robert Day Scholars Program. The donation was the largest recorded gift to a liberal arts college, the largest gift in the field of economics and finance, and among the top 20 gifts ever given to a college or university at the time.[11]

Day was the chairman and former chief executive officer of the W. M. Keck Foundation, named after William Myron Keck. In 1997 under Day, the W.M. Keck Foundation funded a US$50 million grant for the Claremont Colleges, establishing a graduate-level, application-based scientific research and education program called the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences.[12]

The W.M. Keck Foundation later gave a US$110 million gift to the University of Southern California in 1999, creating the Keck School of Medicine of USC. In 2011, the W.M. Keck Foundation gave a US$150 million naming gift to USC. The university's academic medical enterprise was named Keck Medicine of USC, comprising Keck Medical Center of USC and the Keck School of Medicine. The Foundation gave another US$10 million to USC in 2017, renaming a building previously known as Healthcare Center 2 to Willametta Keck Day Healthcare Center. The Willametta Keck Day Healthcare Center contains multiple Keck Medicine of USC clinics, covering primary care and surgical specialties. Through the W.M. Keck Foundation and members of the extended Keck family, nearly US$300 million has been donated to USC, placing the family amongst the university's top benefactors.[13]

Also in 2007, Day and his wife at the time, Kelly, donated US$30 million to the UCLA Department of Surgery through the UCLA Foundation, establishing the Robert and Kelly Day Surgical Endowment.[14]

In September 2015, through the W.M. Keck Foundation, Day donated US$500,000 to the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School, including US$400,000 for the purpose of creating a new science center named in honor of his close friend Vernon Jordan, a Civil Rights activist, lawyer, Democratic advisor, and longtime Martha's Vineyard summer visitor. The Jordan Science Center opened a year later.[15][16]

Personal life and death

Day was the grandson of Superior Oil Company founder William Myron Keck.[17]

Robert Addison Day was married to Marlyn Gates. He had three children and lived in Los Angeles. He died in Los Angeles on September 14, 2023, at the age of 79.[1][18]

Politics

Day has previously been a donor and economics advisor to the former Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.[11] Since 1980, Day supported and hosted events for Congressman David Dreier. In October 2006, Day hosted a fundraiser with then-President George W. Bush, which raised US$1 million for the Republican Party.[19] In 2015, Day donated $1.1 million to Super PACs supporting Republican presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorina.[20]

Recognition

In 2006, Day was awarded the Decoration of Officier de la Légion d'Honneur from the Government of France.[21]

In recognition of Day, the Board of Trustees re-named the department of economics to Robert Day School of Economics and Finance at Claremont McKenna College in 2007.[12]

In May 2014, the Caltech board of trustees awarded Day with the Robert A. Millikan Medal, its highest recognition, created to honor the life and ideals of the school's co-founder, Robert Andrews Millikan.[22]

In December 2021, CMC announced the naming of the Robert Day Sciences Center as home to CMC's integrated sciences program.[23]

References
  1. de la Merced, Michael J. (September 29, 2023). "Robert Day, Financier and Philanthropist, Dies at 79". The New York Times. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  2. NNDB profile
  3. Claremont McKenna College document
  4. 'Robert Addison Day Elected to Board of Trustees', on Brookings Institution website, July 06, 1998 "Robert Addison Day Elected to Board of Trustees - Brookings Institution". Archived from the original on 2007-11-02. Retrieved 2011-11-10.
  5. Foxman, Simone (May 26, 2015). "TCW Founder Day Hires Ex-Tourbillon's Wang for Hedge Fund". Bloomberg.
  6. Kaminer, Michael (November 24, 2021). "A 'Toes-in-the-Sand' Beachfront Unit in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico". Mansion Global.
  7. Staff (September 9, 2022). "30. Robert Day". Los Angeles Business Journal.
  8. Forbes profile
  9. Dobson, Jim (May 19, 2021). "Cabo San Lucas Will Have A New Four Seasons Resort And Residences". Forbes.
  10. Vankin, Deborah; Knight, Christopher (January 30, 2020). "LACMA gets $50 million to move new Zumthor building forward". The Los Angeles Times.
  11. Larry Gordon, 'Claremont McKenna gets huge donation', in The Los Angeles Times, September 27, 2007
  12. Staff (September 27, 2007). "Alumnus Robert Day Makes $200 Million Gift to Claremont McKenna College". Claremont McKenna College.
  13. Di Rado, Alicia (Winter 2017). "W.M. Keck Foundation Builds on USC Legacy by Naming Health Care Center". University of Southern California.
  14. Staff (November 30, 2007). "Robert and Kelly Day Donate $30 Million to Establish UCLA Surgical Endowment". Newswise.
  15. Tumin, Remy (September 8, 2015). "Generous Donor on Hand, Charter School Celebrates Science Wing". The Vineyard Gazette.
  16. Hamacek, Heather (September 4, 2016). "New Charter School Science Center Honors Long Friendship". The Vineyard Gazette.
  17. Haute Living profile
  18. Business Giant, Philanthropist Robert Day Dies at 79
  19. Gabriel Snyder, Inside Move: H'wood picks side in campaign fund fight, Variety, October 04, 2006
  20. "Million-Dollar Donors in the 2016 Presidential Race". New York Times. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  21. Staff (October 28, 2021). "CMC honors Robert Day '65 P'12 for 50 years of service". Claremont McKenna College.
  22. Staff (May 30, 2014). "Caltech Awards Millikan Medal to Robert A. Day". Caltech.
  23. Staff (December 3, 2021). "CMC announces Robert Day Sciences Center to house new integrated sciences program". Claremont McKenna College.
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