Jerome A. Chazen '50 (1927 - 2022)

Jerome Chazen was the Chair of The Jerome A. Chazen Institute for Global Business, which he founded through an endowment to the Columbia Business School in 2006 and through an additional $10MM gift in 2016, and which serves as the focal point for all global programs at Columbia Business School. He was founder and chairman of Chazen Capital Partners, a private investment firm. He was also chairman emeritus and one of four founding partners of Liz Claiborne, Inc. where he was largely responsible for the innovative sales, marketing, distribution, and licensing programs that were an integral part of Liz Claiborne's success.

To Mr. Chazen, thinking globally and remaining abreast of worldwide issues and events was the only way for a consumer-driven company to exist in today's environment. Thus, he believed that a company's greatest challenge is the preservation and perpetuation of its philosophy and ideals both within America and abroad as expansion into international markets continues in the future.

Prior to joining the venture that would become Liz Claiborne, he worked as an analyst on Wall Street and spent 16 years in retailing.

He was a Trustee Emeritus of Columbia University and Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Columbia Business School, as well as Chairman Emeritus of the Board of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. Additionally, Mr. Chazen was a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the New York City Investment Fund.  He was a long-time director of the 92nd Street Y, the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurial Initiative Fund, and was a Partner of the New York City Partnership. He was a Trustee of the National Jewish Center of Immunology and Respiratory Medicine. Mr. Chazen was also Chairman of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives at Queens College in Flushing, New York. He was previously on the Board of Directors of Taubman Centers, Inc.

Mr. Chazen and his wife, Simona, have three children and seven grandchildren. He was an avid art collector and jazz enthusiast.