Stephen Schwarzman – an American Success Story
The story of Stephen Schwarzman is one of altruism and a strong work ethic. Forbes Magazine placed him as the fifty third wealthiest individual in the US last year, but it’s not money which makes this story so fascinating but also his undreamt of achievements in the finance industry and his generosity to education and the liberal arts. All this goes to show that the keys to achieving success are devotion to working hard plus unflagging commitment. Stephen Schwarzman and Peter Peterson founded the private-equity and financial advisory company Blackstone Group in the 1980’s. These days the Blackstone Group is an industry giant boasting investments as variegated as, for example, Allied Waste and the Hilton Hotels Group, to name only two. Living for many of his childhood years in near Philadelphia, PA, Stephen commenced his schooling in the Philadelphia suburbs. Then he went on to graduate from Yale University in 1969. Afterwards, he decided to further his business education at the famed Harvard Business School, graduating in 1972. After concluding his post-graduate degree, Stephen began his career at Lehman Brothers investment bank. By his thirty second birthday he was already on the board.
Not only does Stephen give his time and money to a wide range of not for profit organizations, but he has also been a non-faculty professor at Yale. Beyond this, he is the Chairman to the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. On top of all that, he announced on March 11, 2008 that he had bequeathed $100 million to the New York Public Library to help finance their expansion. In fact, the New York Public Library called their new extension after him. As you’d expect Stephen A. Schwarzman is now one of America’s elite – Times Magazine in 2008 listed Stephen as one of the one hundred most influential individuals on the planet. His supremacy in the business community has been nothing short of stunning, and without a shadow of a doubt his generosity has provided America with a one-of-a-kind new benchmark to mirror from now on.
With his wisdom and commitment, it looks like there’s nothing he can’t do. All in all, Stephen has been a significant influence on the business space and to the world in general.
