Message to Members
THE TICKER
MUSEUM NEWS
Museum Mourns the Loss of Advisory Council Co-Chair William Donaldson
The nation lost a legend , and the Museum lost a good friend , with the passing of William ( Bill ) Donaldson on June 12 , at the age of 93 . Bill was the co-chair of our Advisory Council , and I first met him 15 years ago , when I was hired as the Museum ’ s president / CEO . He had gravitas , wisdom and respect — earned from
Message to Members
David J . Cowen | President and CEO
decades of leadership in various roles . I , of course , knew of him , but we had never met until I joined the Museum in 2009 .
Bill put me at ease right away . At our first meeting , when I was reporting developments , he said , “ Don ’ t just tell me the good things . Tell me your challenges .” Given that we had our share of challenges ,
I appreciated his willingness to be upfront about that and work with me on solving them . At one of the early meetings of the Advisory Council , when very few people showed up , I turned to him and said , “ This is a really bad turnout .” He replied , “ No , this is really good because we can get something done !”
Bill and I immediately bonded , and our friendship lasted until his passing , as I had the pleasure of visiting him and his wife , Jane , on multiple occasions at their residence , where we reminisced about his career and life . He was one of the very few individuals I have met who made a difference in each of the five worlds : for-profit , non-profit , academia , government and military . Some people may have spent time in two or three of those worlds , but Bill made a significant impact in all those realms .
For military , he was in the Marine Corps . For government , he was chair of the Securities & Exchange Commission ( SEC ) and earlier served in the State Department . For academia , he was the founder of the Yale School of Management . For non-profit service , he was the chair of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace and held many other board and leadership positions , including at our Museum . And , of course , in the for-profit world he was chair of the New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE ) and , most notably , a founding partner of Donaldson , Lufkin , Jenrette ( DLJ ).
Our Museum honored Bill twice at our annual Galas . In 2010 , he received our Whitehead Award for Distinguished Public Service and Financial Leadership ( named for his Advisory Council co-chair , John Whitehead ). And in 2020 , Bill received our inaugural Special Recognition honor . There could be no one more deserving . He will be missed , especially by me .
Left to right : John Whitehead , David Cowen and Bill Donaldson at the 2010 MoAF Gala .
Left to right : Richard Sylla , Bill Donaldson , David Cowen and Jane Donaldson at the 2020 MoAF Gala .
4 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Summer 2024 | www . MoAF . org