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Eugene Lang

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For the author, see Eugene Lang (author). For the footballer, see Gene Lang (American football).

Eugene Michael Lang (March 16, 1919 – April 8, 2017) was an American philanthropist who founded REFAC Technology Development Corporation in 1951. REFAC held patents relating to liquid crystal displays, automated teller machines, credit card verification systems, bar code scanners, video cassette recorders, cassette players, camcorders, electronic keyboards, and spreadsheets, and filed thousands of lawsuits against other corporations to secure licensing fees or out-of-court settlements,[1][2] a business practice often criticized as patent trolling. He was also the chairman of the board at Swarthmore College.[3]

Life and career

Lang was born in 1919 in New York City,[4] the son of Ida (Kaslow) and Daniel Lang, Jewish immigrants from Russia and Hungary.[5] He attended public schools including Townsend Harris High School. At the age of 15 he was admitted as a scholarship student to Swarthmore College,[6] and received a B.A. in economics in 1938. He then received an M.S. from Columbia Business School in 1940.[7] He studied mechanical engineering at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute from 1940 to 1941.[8] He was married to Theresa (née Volmar) Lang from 1946 until her death in 2008. They had three children: Jane Lang, David Lang and Stephen Lang.

He created the I Have A Dream Foundation in 1981, Project Pericles in 2001, and the Lang Youth Medical Program in 2003.[9] He has also made large donations to Swarthmore College,[10] The New School's undergraduate liberal arts college - Eugene Lang College - and the Eugene M. Lang Center for Entrepreneurship at Columbia Business School, which is part of Columbia University.

In 1986, Lang received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.[11] Also that year Harry Reasoner interviewed Lang discussing the school program for the news show 60 minutes.

In 1996 President Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His philanthropies, focused primarily on education, altogether exceed $150,000,000. Due to his philanthropy in education, he held 38 honorary degrees as of December 2012.[12]

In 2003 he endowed the Lang Youth Medical Program at NewYork-Presbyterian-Columbia Medical Center. This 6-year program immerses underserved Washington Heights youths in science-based afterschool program.[13]

Robin Hood

In 1986, after watching an episode of CBS News' 60 Minutes about businessman and philanthropist Eugene Lang, Paul Tudor Jones adopted a sixth-grade class in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn at an underperforming public school. Jones guaranteed college scholarships to students that graduated from high school.[14] His idea was this would be an incentive to students to engage in academics with his goal being that 90% of those students successfully complete high school. However, only 33% of the students in the class eventually graduated from high school. Jones believed he "vastly underestimated both the academic and social challenges facing [the students in the class he adopted]" and his program was "completely ill-equipped to [help them] in an efficient fashion."[15] In his 2009 speech, Jones explained that this major failure on his part taught him lessons he's applied in subsequent education efforts.[16]

Jones eventually went on to start the much-publicized Robin Hood Foundation and credits Lang as his inspiration.

Death

Lang died at his home in New York City on April 8, 2017, at the age of 98.[17]

References

  1. ^ Andrews, Edmund L. (14 January 1990). "A 'White Knight' Draws Cries of 'Patent Blackmail'". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  2. ^ "Refac and Patents". The New York Times. 28 January 1990. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  3. ^ "Eugene M. Lang '38 :: Board of Managers :: Swarthmore College". swarthmore.edu. 8 July 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  4. ^ The Encyclopedia of New York City: Second Edition. Yale University Press. 2010. ISBN 978-0300182576.
  5. ^ "Eugene Lang's Obituary in The New York Times". legacy.com. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  6. ^ "Home - "I have a Dream" Foundation". ihaveadreamfoundation.org. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  7. ^ "Eugene M. Lang: Executive Profile & Biography - Bloomberg". businessweek.com. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  8. ^ "Eugene Lang '38 Donates Largest Gift Ever to Swarthmore :: News & Events :: Swarthmore College". swarthmore.edu. 8 December 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  9. ^ "Lang Youth Medical Program - New York Presbyterian Hospital". Archived from the original on 2012-07-27. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
  10. ^ "Eugene Lang '38 Donates Largest Gift Ever to Swarthmore :: News & Events :: Swarthmore College". swarthmore.edu. 8 December 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  11. ^ "National - Jefferson Awards Foundation". jeffersonawards.org. Archived from the original on 24 November 2010. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  12. ^ Nicely, Nancy (8 December 2012). "Eugene Lang '38 Donates Largest Gift Ever to Swarthmore". Swarthmore College. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  13. ^ "Lang Youth Medical Program - Ambulatory Care Network | NewYork-Presbyterian".
  14. ^ Wang, Jennifer (21 October 2017). "How Hedge Fund Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones Learned To Overcome Failure In 6th Grade". Forbes. No. Billionaires. United States. Forbes Media LLC. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  15. ^ "Can Hedge Fund Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones Save America's Public Education System?". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2016-01-02. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  16. ^ "Paul Tudor Jones – Failure Speech June 2009". Scribd. Archived from the original on 2016-01-11. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  17. ^ Nemy, Enid; Berger, Joseph (8 April 2017). "Eugene Lang, Investor Who Made College Dreams a Reality, Dies at 98". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  • 60 Minutes clip of Paul Tudor Jones discussing Mr. Lang inspiration.
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