David F. Swensen’s Net Worth, Salary, Wife, & Children

David F. Swensen was the chief investment officer at Yale University for over 35 years until he passed away on May 5, 2021, after a long battle with cancer. He was an investor, and fund manager, and had made his name as a philanthropist as well. He was living in Killingworth, Conn.

David F. Swensen was born on January 26, 1954, in River Falls, Wisconsin. Swensen was the main man behind the management of Yale’s endowment investment funds and assets, which totaled over $31.2 billion (June 30, 2021). 

David F. Swensen Parents and Family

Late David Swensen’s father,  Richard David “Dick” Swensen, was a chemistry professor at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He was also the dean of that university. His mother Grace Marie (Hartman) became a Lutheran minister. His grandfather was also a chemistry professor.

David Swensen had a total of five siblings. 

David F. Swensen’s Net Worth and Salary

David F. Swensen had earned a fortune during his lifetime. He belonged to a rich family and he just continued accumulating wealth. He had an estimated net worth of USD 1.5 billion. 

Yale made sure he was the one with the most lucrative salary. To give you a clear idea about how enormously Yale paid him, Yale’s principal Peter Salovey did not even earn one-third of Swensen’s salary. 

It’s not just a few years that he started earning this huge sum of money. Swensen left his job on Wall Street when he was 31 years old and came to Yale. And everybody knows that Wall Street pays lucrative amounts to its employees.

He earned $4.3 million in the 2007-’08 academic year and $5.3 million in the 2008-’09 academic year. Swensen earned $4.2 million in 2015. His earnings include salary, bonuses, benefits, and deferred compensation. His earnings remained around $4 million to $7 million per year. 

He earned US$4.7 million in 2017 which included an $843,954 base salary and a US $2.9 million bonus.

Biography of late Paul Volcker, one of the most popular economists of our era.

David F. Swensen’s Wife, First Wife, and Children

David Frederick Swensen got married to Susan Candler Foster on June 26, 1982, at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Wellesley, Mass. 

Susan Candler Foster was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H.W. Foster. Susan Candler Foster was studying for her master’s degree at the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at that time. She had attended Middlebury College, Milton Academy, and Princeton University.

But, the marriage ended in divorce. 

Mr.Swensen has three children from the first marriage – Alexander Swensen, Timothy Swensen, and Victoria Coleman

Mr. David Swensen then got married to Meghan McMahon. Meghan is a former tennis player who coached the Yale Tennis team for eight years from 1994 to 2001. She is 59 years old. 

Education, High School, University, and Degree

David Swensen graduated from River Falls High School in 1971. He then completed his B.A. and B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 1975. It was the same university where his father was a professor. 

After that, Swensen did his Ph.D. from Yale in economics and prepared his thesis ‘ A Model for the Valuation of Corporate Bonds’. 

Books

He has written books including Pioneering Portfolio Management and Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment.

Conclusion

Although Mr. Swensen has gone, his revolutionary approach to institutional investing is sure to live for decades.

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