Iconic business leader, philanthropist, author and television host honored with the prestigious award May 14 for his extraordinary contributions to civic education, the arts, entrepreneurism and global understanding.
PHILADELPHIA, January 22, 2025–Eisenhower Fellowships will award its highest honor, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service, to business leader and philanthropist David Rubenstein for his extraordinary public service to support higher education and the arts, advance economic empowerment in disadvantaged communities and preserve America’s historical legacy to deepen global understanding.
The Chairman of Eisenhower Fellowships (EF), former U.S. Secretary of Defense Dr. Robert M. Gates, will present the prestigious medal to Rubenstein at the organization’s 2025 Annual Awards Dinner on Wednesday, May 14 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
“Over a remarkable career, David Rubenstein’s life’s work is in keeping with the highest values of our organization and honors the legacy of our namesake, President Dwight D. Eisenhower,” Dr. Gates said. “David has used his business success to drive his enormous generosity and influence as one of the world’s most prominent philanthropists, supporting vital medical care and serving as a vocal champion of literacy, entrepreneurism and civic participation in our democracy.”
The Eisenhower Medal, established in 1988 by EF’s Board of Trustees, is awarded annually to a distinguished states person, business leader or other public figure who has achieved, through direct person-to-person international dialogue, advances toward President Eisenhower’s goal of peace, prosperity and justice.
“I am greatly honored to receive a medal named for one of America’s most impactful and respected citizens and leaders. I am humbled by the decision to honor me in this way and will do whatever I can to live up to the high standards of conduct and leadership set by Dwight D. Eisenhower.”
Rubenstein’s inspiring rags-to-riches story took him from humble working-class origins in his native Baltimore to study law and apply it to public service, first on Capitol Hill as chief counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments, then at the White House helping oversee domestic policy before he returned to private practice. Later he co-founded the Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest and most successful private investment firms, with $447 billion under management from 29 offices around the world.
Along the way, Rubenstein has helped lead some of America’s most prestigious educational, foreign policy and cultural institutions in building bridges of understanding across the globe.
Rubenstein serves as Chairman and CEO of his beloved Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles, Chairman of the Boards of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Gallery of Art, the Economic Club of Washington and the University of Chicago.
He is a Trustee of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine, the Institute for Advanced Study, the National Constitution Center, the Brookings Institution, and the World Economic Forum, and is a Director of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
A member of numerous advisory boards in higher education and the arts, Rubenstein has served as Chairman of the Boards of Duke University and the Smithsonian Institution, Co-Chairman of the Board of the Brookings Institution and as a Fellow of the Harvard Corporation.
An original signer of The Giving Pledge, Rubenstein is a significant donor to all of the above-mentioned non-profit organizations. He is a recipient of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy and the Museum of Modern Art’s David Rockefeller Award, among other philanthropic honors.
Rubenstein is a national leader in the area of Patriotic Philanthropy, having made transformative gifts for the restoration or repair of the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Monticello, Montpelier, Mount Vernon, Arlington House, the Iwo Jima Memorial, the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, the National Archives, the National Zoo, the Library of Congress and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Rubenstein also has provided to the U.S. government long-term loans of his rare copies of the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment, the first map of the U.S. (Abel Buell map), and the first book printed in the U.S. (Bay Psalm Book).
Mr. Rubenstein is the host of The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations on Bloomberg TV and PBS, Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein on Bloomberg TV and Iconic America: Our Symbols and Stories with David Rubenstein on PBS.
He is the author of five books published by Simon & Schuster: The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians (2019), How to Lead: Wisdom from the World’s Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers (2020), The American Experiment: Dialogues on a Dream (2021) and How to Invest: Masters on the Craft (2022).
His most recent book with Simon and Schuster, The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency (2024), comprised of interviews with some of the greatest living political thinkers — from American presidents to top historians and journalists—was a New York Times best-seller.
Previous Eisenhower Medal recipients include late U.S. Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright, Henry Kissinger and General Colin L. Powell; legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg; U.S. Senators George Mitchell, Sam Nunn and John McCain; former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III; businesswoman and philanthropist Melinda French Gates; the global medical organization Doctors Without Borders; former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman; Presidents George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford; Washington Post Publisher Katherine Graham; Susan and David Eisenhower; and former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, among others.
Founded as a birthday present to President Eisenhower during his first year in the White House, Eisenhower Fellowships brings together diverse, innovative leaders from all fields from around the globe to tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Since its creation in 1953, more than 2,500 mid-career leaders from 115 countries have benefitted from the unique, customized experience of an Eisenhower Fellowship.