David Tepper

NET WORTH: $11 billion

SOURCE of WEALTH: Appaloosa Management

FUNDING AREAS: Education, Hunger, Health, Jewish Causes

OVERVIEW: David Tepper supports education, hunger and poverty, health and Jewish Causes through the David Tepper Charitable Foundation. According to available tax filings, the foundation awarded a little over $26 million in grants in 2017.

BACKGROUND: David Tepper holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon. Early in his career, he worked at Equibank, Republic Steel and Keystone Mutual Funds. He joined Goldman Sachs in 1985 and rose to a managerial rank. After failing to make partner at Goldman, he founded his own firm, Appaloosa Management, which became one of the highest-earning hedge funds of the 2010’s. Tepper is the owner of the Carolina Panthers football team.

ISSUES:  

EDUCATION: A large share of Tepper’s education philanthropy has been directed toward Carnegie Mellon University. In 2003, Tepper gave $55 million to the university’s business school, which was renamed the Tepper School of Business. In 2013, he gave another $67 million for the creation of the Tepper Quadrangle, an “innovation hub” designed to promote collaboration between Carnegie Mellon’s seven schools. Other higher education grantees include the University of Pittsburgh and Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of Arts. In his home state of New Jersey, Tepper and his former colleague Alan Fournier founded Better Education for Kids, which advocates for education reform in the state. Tepper has also supported Teach for America and the Harlem Children’s Zone.

HUNGER & POVERTY: Tepper serves on the board of directors of the Robin Hood Foundation, which aims to “improve the living standards for 1.8 million low-income New Yorkers.” Other past grantees addressing hunger include the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, Feeding America and the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.

HEALTH: Tepper supports health broadly. Past grantees include the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the Parkinson's Disease Foundation and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

JEWISH CAUSES: Tepper has supported Jewish organizations including the Jewish Federation of Greater Metrowest New Jersey

LOOKING FORWARD: Tepper is likely to continue his support of organizations involved in education reform and hunger in New York and New Jersey.

CONTACT: 

The David Tepper Charitable Foundation
c/o Appaloosa 51 JFK Pkwy, No 250B  
Livingston, NJ 07078
(931) 701-7000