There are few contemporary Wall Street institutions more legendary than Renaissance Technologies, the famously profitable hedge fund founded in 1982 by mathematician Jim Simons. The firm has achieved peerless investing track records, including through its exclusive Medallion Fund. Renaissance is perhaps the best-known example of investing via quantitative analysis—hence the term “quant”—and was spearheaded by math whizzes and computer scientists rather than your more traditional Wall Street set.
The hedge fund’s enormous success over the years has made many of those math whizzes rich enough to engage in big philanthropy. That starts with Simons and his family, who have plenty to give, considering Simons’ current $28.6 billion net worth. Then there’s longtime co-CEO Robert Mercer, former chief scientist and research VP Henry Laufer, current CEO Peter Brown—the list goes on.
One of the most interesting things about the donors to emerge from Renaissance Technologies is their ideological diversity. Like Home Depot co-founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, Simons and Mercer have very different political inclinations. That divergence carries through in their philanthropy, and especially if one compares the progressive bent of Simons’ children with the Mercers’ Trump-world ties and established conservative grantmaking record.
With so much money floating around (Renaissance Technologies has upward of $130 billion in assets under management), other controversies have cropped up. Last year, for instance, the hedge fund resolved a “longstanding dispute” with the IRS that ended in a massive $7 billion settlement payable by Simons, Mercer and other Renaissance leaders. Then there’s the 2017 revelation of a hidden philanthropic trust set up by Simons and based in Bermuda, the Simons Foundation International, said to hold $8 billion.
These donors—the immensely well-resourced Simons dynasty in particular—are well-positioned for major influence in the sector going forward. Here’s a list of some notable donors to emerge from Renaissance Technologies, starting with the Simonses and the Mercers.
Jim and Marilyn Simons
The founder’s Simons Foundation got its start in 1994 and has grown into a $4 billion behemoth in the science funding world. First and foremost, what distinguishes the Simons Foundation is its steadfast dedication to basic science. Support can be hard to find elsewhere for researchers exploring abstract questions in fields like mathematics and the physical sciences—the Simons Foundation makes that support a priority.
Jim Simons’ wife Marilyn Simons ran day-to-day business at the foundation for most of its history. That is, until late last year, when the couple tapped astrophysicist David Spergel as president. While we don’t foresee any drastic changes with Spergel at the helm (the Simonses remain board co-chairs), Jim and Marilyn are giving the new president some leeway to build out his vision, which may include funding career pivots for mid- to late-career scientists and expanding the foundation’s efforts on diversity.
Besides math and the physical sciences, the foundation backs research in the life sciences and established its Autism Research Initiative (SFARI), part of a longstanding interest in autism and learning disabilities. Education and outreach programs make up another big component of the foundation’s work. Since 2017, it has also funded its own research campus: the Flatiron Institute in New York. Total grants and program expenditures in 2020 stood at around $376 million.
Jim Simons, now 83, has had five children with Marilyn and with former wife Barbara. Two of those children are deceased, and all three living children are active philanthropists. The resources they’ve devoted to charity mostly derive from trusts set up by their father.
Nat Simons and Laura Baxter-Simons
Jim Simons’ son Nathaniel Simons, himself a hedge fund manager and former Renaissance employee, founded the Sea Change Foundation alongside his wife Laura Baxter-Simons. Though its grantmaking has been fairly quiet, the Sea Change Foundation is one of the nation’s top climate and clean energy funders.
In 2018, the couple said they plan to give between $50 million and $75 million annually for climate change mitigation for the foreseeable future. Total funding out the door since the foundation’s 2006 launch well exceeds a half-billion dollars.
The Sea Change Foundation typically makes large grants to fairly conventional green groups—places like the pass-through Energy Foundation or advocacy organizations like the National Resources Defense Council. Sea Change is also quite a lean affair, relying on a small roster of consultants to help the founding couple move money out the door.
Liz Simons and Mark Heising
Liz Simons, one of Jim Simons’ two daughters, is a former teacher who started the Heising-Simons Foundation with her husband, engineer and investor Mark Heising. As is the case with all of the second-generation Simonses, the couple’s philanthropic interests are fairly progressive.
The Heising-Simons Foundation’s grantmaking is more diverse in terms of issue areas than some of the Simons clan’s other giving vehicles. In addition to climate and energy work and science funding, the foundation supports grantees in education, human rights and “community and opportunity,” which encompasses things like local resilience programming, journalism and the foundation’s CEO Fund.
The couple’s daughter Caitlin Heising also serves on the foundation’s board, while President and CEO Deanna Gomby leads the staff. Grantmaking has shot up in recent years, from around $55 million in 2016 to $134.5 million in 2021.
Audrey Cappell
Another Simons daughter, Cappell is probably the edgiest donor in the clan. In 2011, she created the Foundation for a Just Society, a progressive grantmaker with a mission to advance the rights of women, girls and LGBTQI people. This social justice funder has global reach, with grants going out to regions like West Africa, Mesoamerica and South and Southeast Asia, as well as the U.S. Southeast. Total grantmaking has exceeded $180 million to date.
Like some other progressive funders, the Foundation for a Just Society prioritizes multi-year general support and says it seeks to enable “people most affected by injustice to be leaders, strategists and agents of change.”
The Nick Simons Foundation
It’s worth mentioning one more philanthropic entity associated with the Simons children. The Nick Simons Foundation was established in 2005 following the tragic death of Nick Simons, Jim and Marilyn Simons’ son. The foundation supports development work in Nepal, the country where Nick Simons passed away, and where, according to the foundation, he once told his mother he was considering spending the rest of his life.
This is a small foundation for the Simonses, with “only” around $70 million in assets. Its support includes funding for the Nick Simons Institute, an in-country installation that provides training for Nepali healthcare workers.
Robert Mercer
Besides the Simons clan, former CEO Robert Mercer has been the most notable (some would say notorious) donor to emerge from Renaissance Technologies, mostly due to his unabashed support for right-wing causes and for President Donald Trump. While Jim Simons is a steadfastly Democratic political donor, Mercer’s preferences lie firmly in the other camp. But unlike the elder Simons, with his laser focus on science philanthropy (although Jim and Marilyn are both major Democratic political donors), Mercer has welcomed opportunities to use his philanthropic giving to advance an ideological agenda.
The heyday of Mercer’s hardball ideological giving occurred during the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, when he gave to a number of 501(c)(3) groups directing fire at Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. Around the same time, he was an investor in the now-infamous Cambridge Analytica and in Breitbart News. Mercer has a longer history of channeling money to more traditional nonprofit destinations for conservative cash, including to advocates for free-market economic policies.
After acquiring “toxic donor” status in some quarters during the early Trump years, Mercer dialed down the most visibly controversial aspects of his giving—both political and philanthropic. Nevertheless, money continues to flow from the Mercer Family Foundation, likely to conservative causes via non-transparent channels like the DAF sponsor DonorsTrust.
Rebekah Mercer
As part of his apparent retreat from the public gaze, Robert Mercer stepped down from Renaissance in 2017 and sold his piece of Breitbart News to his daughters. Rebekah Mercer is one of those daughters. She’s also a director and point person at the Mercer Family Foundation, which, as noted above, continues to funnel money to places like DonorsTrust, where it then might flow to any number of right-wing and other nonprofits.
Besides seeming to be her father’s successor where the family’s philanthropy is concerned, Rebekah Mercer also maintains business ties relevant to the American right. For instance, she’s a co-founder of and primary investor in Parler, the social networking platform that gained a wide following among Trump supporters and far-right ideologues.
Henry and Marsha Laufer (and Eric Laufer)
Henry Laufer worked at the firm from 1992 through 2009, where he was chief scientist and vice president of research. Prior to coming on board, Laufer co-founded the Medallion Fund alongside Jim Simons—the two men were colleagues at Stony Brook University’s math department. Laufer’s stake in Renaissance’s legendary success made him a billionaire.
As donors, Laufer and his wife Marsha keep things low-key. They don’t maintain a foundation but have still given in areas like higher education and science research, including to support Stony Brook University’s Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology. Arts giving for performing arts and music is also within their purview, as well as giving for women’s rights and Jewish causes. Like Jim Simons, the Laufers are major Democratic political donors.
The couple’s son Eric Laufer appears to be making some philanthropic moves of his own. He’s the primary backer of voting rights organization Public Wise, where he also heads the board. Public Wise got its start in 2019 and collaborated with a number of partners on the Insurrection Index, an attempt to keep track of public figures involved in the January 2021 Capitol insurrection. According to Public Wise, the younger Laufer’s support is not connected with his parents’ philanthropy.
Peter Brown and Margaret Hamburg
Another math and computer science maven, Peter Brown has served as Renaissance Technologies’ sole CEO since 2017, after serving as co-CEO with Robert Mercer since Simons’ retirement from the role. He’s married to Margaret “Peggy” Hamburg, who was commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from 2009 through 2015. Hamburg is also a current member of the Simons Foundation’s board.
Brown and Hamburg operate a philanthropic vehicle called the Quetzal Trust, an under-the-radar concern interested in “long-term initiatives” rather than “solutions to short-term problems.” In 2020, the trust’s assets topped $460 million, but the exact nature of its grantmaking is uncertain, since its annual distribution tends to go into a DAF at Fidelity Charitable. Past areas of interest include higher education, STEM education, and health, including support for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
David Magerman
A computer scientist, Magerman worked at Renaissance Technologies for over two decades. Political tensions at the company led to his departure in 2017 when Magerman and then-co-CEO Robert Mercer clashed over political disagreements and alleged racist comments by Mercer.
Magerman’s Kohelet Foundation, based in Pennsylvania, backs Jewish day schools in the region. He’s a primary backer of the Kohelet Yeshiva High School as well as other local Jewish educational institutions. Magerman also funds the Kohelet Fellowships Program, described as a “two-year learning experience” for parents of Jewish day school students. The fellowships aren’t limited to Pennsylvania recipients.
Sandor Straus
Another mathematician, Straus worked at the Medallion Fund during his time at Renaissance Technologies. He founded the Firedoll Foundation with his wife Faye—they named the organization after their two cats. Based in Walnut Creek, California, the foundation supports community development and entrepreneurship, immigrant and human rights issues, environmental conservation, brain trauma survivors and peace work in the Middle East.