Statement by Chun Lai, Chief Investment Officer of The Rockefeller Foundation, on the Death of Martin Leibowitz

Martin L. Leibowitz, who died recently, was a celebrated leader and thinker in modern finance. Marty, as we knew him, was also a dedicated friend and trustee of The Rockefeller Foundation. On behalf of our team, our trustees, and our Investment Committee, I want to send our thoughts to Marty’s wife Sarah, his daughters, and his grandchildren.

Anyone who worked in fixed income, pensions, or endowments knew Marty, or knew of him. He led Salomon Brothers’ Fixed Income Department through the 1980s and 90s, the period that produced many of the instruments — mortgage-backed securities, zero coupon bonds, fixed income indices — that the rest of us now take for granted. A whole generation of bond portfolio managers, traders, and analysts, whether they realize it or not, work in a paradigm Marty helped create.

More than the work, more than all the articles, more than all the advisory boards, Marty was there for us whenever we needed him — across his decade as a trustee, from 2012 to 2022, and his sixteen years on our Investment Committee. When we needed his counsel on a strategy decision, he was there. When we urgently needed his authorization on a hedging trade, he was there — once, I remember, from a vacation in Hawaii. None of us can recall him ever missing an IC meeting. The endowment grew by more than 70 percent during his tenure–supporting just over $3.5 billion to grants and other investments to lift up the most vulnerable.

To everyone on our investment team, Marty was a wise teacher who knew everything there was to know about investing. He was a mentor who guided and supported us with his intelligence, his experience, and his sense of humor. And he was a friend, and always will be. We will miss him.