Columbia Business School lost a longtime friend and supporter when Daniel Cain '72 passed away on March 31 at his home in West Cornwall, Connecticut, after an illness. Cain was a member of the School’s Board of Overseers, which he first joined in 2000, and his generosity supported many academic and scholarly initiatives. Along with contributions from the employees of the healthcare investment banking firm he co-founded, he endowed the Cain Brothers & Company Professorship of Healthcare Management in the Faculty of Business. That professorship was first awarded in 2014 to Linda Green, who still holds the position and is also the faculty director of the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Management Program.
"I was honored to be appointed the Cain Brothers professor,": said Green. "Dan was very interested in my research in improving the efficiency and efficacy of healthcare delivery systems and wanted to get me involved with other healthcare professionals he knew in projects he thought would be mutually beneficial. I always came away from my conversations with him feeling upbeat and energized."
In addition, Cain was a generous donor to several other scholarships and professorships, including the Linda B. Meehan Scholarship, named for the longtime assistant dean of admissions, and the Meyer Feldberg Professorship, currently held by Gita Johar, which is named for the former dean of the School. Cain was also a strong supporter of the Meyer Feldberg Distinguished Fellowship Program, which so far has provided full tuition to more than 50 outstanding students. Cain was also a regular speaker in Columbia Business School classes and was an active volunteer, chairing his class reunion committee and serving as a regular event host.
"We feel a tremendous loss with Dan’s passing," said Dean Glenn Hubbard. "We relied on his sound advice, particularly in the area of healthcare, for almost two decades. His generous spirit will surely be missed."
Born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1945, Cain was a high school football star who was recruited to play for Brown University, from which he graduated in 1968. He worked in commercial banking and traveled until attending Columbia Business School. Cain began his investment banking career at Blyth, Eastman Dillon & Co., and later served as vice president and manager of the healthcare finance group at Salomon Brothers.
Recognizing opportunities for consolidation and streamlining in the healthcare industry, he founded Cain Brothers & Company LLC with his brother, Jim, in 1982. At the helm of the company for several decades, Daniel Cain came to be regarded as one of the industry’s top healthcare-services investment bankers and a pioneer in executing mergers and acquisitions of healthcare organizations. Cain went on to found Cain Brothers & Company’s private equity affiliates, CB Health Ventures and Health Enterprise Partners. Both funds have raised and invested hundreds of millions of dollars in early stage healthcare service and technology companies.
In addition to serving on the School’s Board of Overseers, Cain also served on the boards of the Williston-Northampton School, the Salisbury School, the Norman Rockwell Museum, and Hancock Shaker Village.
He is survived by his wife, Kathleen; his son, William; three siblings; and numerous nieces, nephews, and in-laws.