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Bernard Leon Schwartz (December 13, 1925 – March 12, 2024) was an American businessman who was Chairman of the Board and CEO of Loral Space & Communications, a position he held for 34 years. He also served as Chairman and CEO of K&F Industries, Inc., and president and CEO of Globalstar Telecommunications. He retired from Loral and his positions at its various subsidiaries and affiliates as of March 1, 2006. He was latterly the Chairman and CEO of BLS Investments, his own investment firm located in Manhattan.

Biography

Schwartz was born in Brooklyn, New York. and grew up in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn. He was Jewish. Schwartz graduated from Townsend Harris High School in NYC. He held a B.S. in finance and an honorary doctorate of science from City University of New York. He was a World War II veteran, having served in the US Army Air Corps. After school, he worked as an accountant eventually becoming a partner at a Wall Street firm. He then went on to serve as a vice president of American President Lines and then president of Reliance Insurance Co. (formerly Leasco) for four years. In 1972, he bought a 12% stake in Loral Corporation, a New York Stock Exchange-listed manufacturer of satellites and satellite systems, where he served as its Chairman and CEO for 34 years.

Political activities

Schwartz was a lifelong Democrat. According to NBC News, he was the largest single contributor to the Democratic Party from 1992 to 1996. In 1996, he celebrated his 71st birthday with Bill and Hillary Clinton at the White House. In 1998 Schwartz became embroiled in a campaign donations scandal and an alleged transfer of missile technology to China that occurred in 1996. He was exonerated of any wrongdoing in the campaign finance matter after a Justice Department investigation. Loral settled the missile transfer matter with the Justice Department in 2002, paying a $14 million fine and admitting no wrongdoing.

In 2016, Schwartz donated US$1 million to Priorities USA Action, a Super PAC supporting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Schwartz is also in the $5 million – $10 million bracket of donors to the Clinton Foundation.

Foreign Policy

In 2002, the Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellowship in Business and Foreign Policy was established at the Council on Foreign Relations with a gift from the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Foundation. The fellowship was created to focus on the global integration of financial markets and its implications for U.S. economic and foreign policy. Schwartz did not actually become a member of the Council on Foreign Relations until 2003, the following year.

Personal life

Schwartz was married to the former Irene Zanderer and lived in New York City; she died in 2014. They had two daughters. He remarried to Denise Jansen. Schwartz was a member of the United Jewish Appeal Federation's real estate committee. In 2002, he and his wife donated $5 million to Baruch College.

Schwartz died at his home in Manhattan on March 12, 2024, at the age of 98.

References

1. ^ Schwartz, Bernard. "My American Story by Bernard Schwartz". The Common Good. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
2. ^ "About Bernard Schwartz". The New School - Bernard Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. October 2007. Archived from the original on July 28, 2010.
3. "Archive of "Bernard L. Schwartz Biography"" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-05-30. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
4. Dave Eisenstadt (1 May 1997). "Orbiter of Power". Mother Jones. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
5. Rempel, William C.; Alan C. Miller (May 23, 2000). "Internal Justice Memo Excuses Loral From Funds Probe..." Los Angeles Times. p. A15. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
6. DAVID JOHNSTON (June 9, 2000). "Justice Dept. Memo Says Donor Was Cleared". The New York Times. Today, a Loral spokesman expressed satisfaction that the documents had finally come to light. We are pleased that the facts in this case have now been made public and that Mr. Schwartz and Loral are shown to be innocent of any wrongdoing, said Thomas B. Ross, a company vice president. Mr. Specter said in an interview that he did not realize at the hearing that Mr. Schwartz had been exonerated by the Justice Department because he had not seen Mr. La Bella's addendum.
7. Michael Hirsh (2003). At War with Ourselves: Why America is Squandering Its Chance to Build a Better World. Oxford University Press. pp. 150–. ISBN 978-0-19-515269-2. Bernard Schwartz was exonerated of all wrongdoing when the Justice ...
8. The Washington Times. January 10, 2002. Loral settles charge it gave China data
9. "The Top Donors Backing Hillary Clinton's Super PAC". Forbes. May 27, 2016.
10. "Clinton Foundation". ClintonFoundation. Sep 25, 2019.
11. ^ "The Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellowship in Business and Foreign Policy". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
12. "In Memoriam: Fall 2014–Winter 2015". Baruch College Alumni Association. 6 November 2014.
13. "Real Estate Executive Council: Members". United Jewish Appeal Federation. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015.
14. "Grants from Jewish sources announced". The Jewish Post. 2002.
15. "Bernard L. Schwartz, Loral CEO Who Funded Democrats, Dies at 98". BNN Bloomberg. 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.

External links

• Official website

• 1925 births
• 2024 deaths
• Philanthropists from New York (state)
• American chief executives
• 20th-century American Jews
• Businesspeople from Brooklyn
• Loral Space & Communications
• New York (state) Democrats
• American businesspeople in real estate
• Townsend Harris High School alumni
• United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II
• 21st-century American Jews