Julian Robertson rose to the pinnacle of the financial world as founder and managing partner of Tiger Management Corporation, one of the largest and most successful hedge fund groups ever created. Today, he focuses his immense talent and energy on philanthropy. In 1989 he established the Tiger Foundation to provide financial support to non-profit organizations serving New York City's neediest families, and to encourage active, informed philanthropy among Tiger Management's investment staff. The foundation's unique structure brings together participating individuals who not only commit their personal fortunes to its work, but also serve as its trustees and actively participate in making its grants.
In addition to the Robertson Scholars Program, Julian Robertson has also contributed to Lynn University, the alma mater of his son Julian III, endowed a fellowship in the Kenan-Flagler Business School, and established a foundation in honor of his parents to benefit citizens of Salisbury, North Carolina. Robertson's other philanthropic interests include Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City where the Josie Robertson Plaza is named in honor of his wife; the Health Care Chaplaincy; the Central Park Conservancy; cancer research; and public and private elementary and secondary education, including the Children's Scholarship Fund in Charlotte. Generous gifts to Hollins University and St. Mary's School honor his sisters, Wyndham and Blanche, who are alumnae of those institutions respectively.
Julian Robertson grew up in Salisbury where he attended public schools before enrolling in Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. He received his B. S. in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1955, and was inducted into the Order of Gimghoul. Following two years of service in the United States Navy, Robertson joined Kidder Peabody & Company in 1957 as a sales trainee. He was promoted through the ranks at Kidder Peabody, becoming in 1974 chairman and chief executive officer of Webster Management Corporation, a subsidiary of the firm. Six years later, he founded Tiger Management.
In 1979 Robertson and his family moved to New Zealand for six months where he hoped to write a book. That spectacular country nourished his love for geography and natural beauty, a passion that is leading him today to develop golf courses and resorts there, including the magnificent Kauri Cliffs on the North Island. Julian Robertson's friends fondly describe him as a contrarian who follows not the crowd but his own inner call. This pillar of the financial world never carries a briefcase and does not wear a watch.
Julian Robertson's service to his alma mater includes tenure as executive-in-residence at the Kenan-Flagler Business School and membership on the Board of Visitors, the Board of Directors of the General Alumni Association (1965-67), and Kenan-Flagler's Board of Visitors. He received the Board of Trustees' Davie Award in 1992. In New York he has served as chairman of the Cancer Research Institute, is a member of the executive committee of Lincoln Center, and is a trustee of The Rockefeller University, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.
