Michael H. Steinhardt

Michael H. Steinhardt, born on December 7, 1940, in New York City, is a Jewish-American investor, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He became internationally known as the founder of Steinhardt Partners, one of the era’s most successful hedge funds, but his public legacy extends well beyond finance. Through major support for Jewish education, Hebrew-language schooling, universities, museums and Israel-focused initiatives, he helped build institutions and programs that have shaped Jewish life across generations. He is especially identified with Taglit-Birthright Israel, the program he co-founded to bring young Jews from around the world to Israel for an educational journey.

Building a pioneering investment firm

Steinhardt studied at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1960. He began his professional career as an analyst at Calvin Bullock and Loeb, Rhoades & Co., developing the market analysis and investment discipline that would define his later work. In 1967, he joined William Salomon and Jack Nash in founding Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz, later known as Steinhardt Partners.

The firm became known for an unusually flexible and research-driven approach. It used short-term trading, short selling, leverage and positions based on anticipated movements in stock and bond markets. Between 1967 and 1995, Steinhardt Partners achieved an average annualized return of 24.5% for its clients after management and performance fees, substantially outperforming the S&P 500 over the same period. The result established Steinhardt as one of the most influential figures in the first generation of modern hedge-fund management.

Steinhardt closed the fund in 1995 and distributed its assets to its limited partners. His decision followed a growing conviction that his abilities and resources should serve purposes broader than making wealthy people wealthier. In 2004, he returned to the financial world as chairman of WisdomTree Investments. The firm developed index funds based on dividends and earnings rather than relying solely on conventional market-capitalization weighting, helping bring alternative index strategies to a wider investing public.

Business activity and investment in Israel

Beginning in the 1980s, Steinhardt became active in Israel’s business and investment environment. In 1987, he established an Israeli investment fund with Merrill Lynch and the Clal Group, and that year participated in acquiring control of the packaging company Kargal. He later invested in the Israeli textile company Makhtesh, which was connected to Tefron, and in 1992 acquired control of Israel’s Maritime Bank.

In 1997, he joined the investor group led by Ted Arison that acquired a controlling interest in Bank Hapoalim. Bank Hapoalim later acquired Israel’s Maritime Bank, and Steinhardt sold his Bank Hapoalim shares in 2006. He also participated in Israeli real-estate, energy and corporate ventures. These investments reflected a sustained commitment to Israel’s economic development and to the potential of Israeli companies and markets.

Birthright Israel and a new connection to Israel

Steinhardt’s most recognizable contribution to Jewish life is Taglit-Birthright Israel, founded in 1999 with Charles Bronfman. The program provides Jewish young adults aged 18 to 26 with a free ten-day educational trip to Israel. Its purpose is more substantial than tourism: it gives participants direct contact with Jewish history, Israeli society and a worldwide Jewish community.

For many participants, the journey was their first visit to Israel and their first sustained encounter with Jewish peers from other countries. By combining historical sites, contemporary Israeli life and group discussion about identity and continuity, Birthright Israel turned philanthropy into a long-term social and educational infrastructure. It connected young adults with Israel, with Jewish communities and with one another, often influencing their later communal, professional and family lives.

In 2017, Steinhardt was chosen to light a ceremonial torch at Israel’s national Independence Day ceremony in recognition of his contribution as a co-founder of Birthright Israel. The honor reflected the program’s broad significance as a bridge between Israel and Jewish communities around the world.

Hebrew education, universities and cultural institutions

Steinhardt devoted much of his philanthropy to Jewish and Hebrew education. He founded a network of secular Hebrew-language charter schools in the United States, open to Jewish and non-Jewish students. These schools were designed to make Hebrew a living language of learning and culture rather than merely an academic subject. In doing so, they expanded the ability of American families to give children an everyday connection to Jewish language and heritage.

New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development bears his name in recognition of two $10 million gifts. He also supported Brandeis University, the New York Botanical Garden, Jewish schools and community institutions. Such gifts strengthened research, teacher training and the physical and intellectual infrastructure that allows educational institutions to serve the public over time.

Steinhardt served as chairman of the board of Tel Aviv University and received an honorary doctorate from the university in 2011. He endowed the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University, which presents Israel’s biodiversity and the importance of conservation. The museum links scientific research with public education and gives students, families, researchers and visitors a deeper understanding of the natural world in Israel.

He also supported the Israel Museum, the Jerusalem Foundation and other cultural institutions. In addition, he helped finance two films by Amos Kollek. Taken together, these activities reveal a broad philosophy of philanthropy: not simply giving to individual causes, but helping build institutions, educational programs and cultural spaces whose influence continues well beyond the original gift.

Jewish identity and public engagement

Steinhardt has described himself as nonreligious while expressing a strong connection to Jewish culture and to the State of Israel. Much of his public work grew from an effort to strengthen the relationship between Jews around the world and Israel, and to create settings in which Jewish identity could develop through language, education, travel and personal encounter.

He chaired the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life and served as chairman of the board of Taglit-Birthright Israel. He spoke with Jewish young people through educational and community organizations and supported institutions working in identity, education and Israel engagement. His contributions to Jewish causes have been estimated at more than $125 million.

Writing, collecting and a complex cultural legacy

In 2001, Steinhardt published his autobiography, No Bull: My Life in and out of Markets. The book describes his career in finance and his transition from market activity to public and philanthropic work. It offers a first-person account of his views on risk, discipline, decision-making and the changing meaning of professional success.

Steinhardt also collected art, antiquities and Jewish ceremonial objects, and over the years lent objects to museums, including the Israel Museum. His collections reflected a sustained interest in ancient history, art and Jewish culture. His later agreement to relinquish antiquities identified by investigators as stolen also underscored the legal and cultural responsibilities associated with collecting ancient objects, as well as the importance of documented lawful provenance for objects displayed in public institutions.

Why this legacy belongs in Moreshet

Michael H. Steinhardt merits inclusion in the archive because he worked in several fields that have shaped Jewish and Israeli life in recent decades. He built an exceptional financial career, then directed a substantial share of his resources and influence toward educational institutions, universities, museums and programs that connect young Jews with Israel.

Birthright Israel is his most visible contribution: a program that made a first visit to Israel a formative experience for many Jewish young adults and created lasting links among communities around the world. The Hebrew-language charter schools, the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University, and his support for the Israel Museum and other institutions added durable foundations for language, knowledge, science and Jewish culture.

His place in Moreshet therefore rests not only on wealth or prominence, but on the institutions and programs he helped create and on the people who encountered Israel, Hebrew, science and Jewish culture through them. At Moreshet.com, his story helps illustrate how business success, when directed toward sustained public investment, can influence identity, education and community life in Israel and throughout the Jewish world.