Richard Jenrette


Richard Hampton Jenrette was an American businessman who was one of the founders of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

Early life

Jenrette was born on April 5, 1929, in Raleigh, North Carolina and "grew up in a comfortable Tudor" home. He was the son of Joseph Jenrette, a successful local insurance salesman, and Emma Jenrette, an avid gardener who lived to 101. He attended Needham B. Broughton High School.
Jenrette graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Harvard Business School.

Career

Following his graduation from UNC, Jenrette was employed at New England Life Insurance Co. from 1951 to 1953. After obtaining his MBA from Harvard in 1957, he began working at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. until 1959.
In 1959, he founded Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette with William H. Donaldson, who subsequently became chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and Dan Lufkin. Under Jenrette's direction, the firm concentrated on in-depth analysis, creating a new industry standard for institutional investing. Jenrette was also instrumental in taking DLJ public in 1970, making it the first publicly traded investment firm in the United States.
Taking the helm of DLJ in 1973, he successfully shepherded the firm through a recession and, later, a 1985 sale to worldwide insurance leader, The Equitable Companies Inc., where he became the chief investment officer. Jenrette later served as chairman and CEO from April 1990, until his retirement in 1996.
In addition to his career at DLC and Equitable, he also served on the Harvard University board of overseers, was a trustee of The Duke Endowment, and chairman of the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust.

Personal life

Jenrette was a bachelor who did not marry, but had a partner, William L. Thompson, who died in 2013.
Jenrette died of cancer on April 22, 2018, aged 89, in Charleston, South Carolina. According to the website of his foundation, the Classical American
Homes Preservation Trust, he left a paper in his desk listing his .

Restoration of historic houses

Beginning in the 1960s, Jenrette bought and restored a series of significant historic American houses, including Robert William Roper House in Charleston, South Carolina; Millford Plantation in South Carolina; Ayr Mount in North Carolina; Estate Cane Garden on St. Croix; the George F. Baker House in New York City; and Edgewater in Barrytown, New York.
Jenrette commissioned new buildings, including a gate house and poolhouse at Edgewater, designed by the architect Michael Dwyer.

Scholastic and other honors

Jenrette's books include Jenrette: The Contrarian Manager, a memoir of his career on Wall Street, and Adventures With Old Houses, a memoir of his experiences restoring several historic buildings.