Susan Weber (historian)

Susan Weber Soros (born 1954, New York City, U.S.) is the founder and director of the Bard Graduate Center (BGC) for studies in the decorative arts, design, and culture in New York City. She was married to George Soros.

Susan Weber was born in Brooklyn and studied at Barnard College, New York, the Parsons School of Design, New York and the Royal College of Art where she gained her PhD in 1998 with a thesis on the furniture of E.W. Godwin. She established the Bard Graduate Center in 1993 and it has become a leading graduate institution in American higher education, offering advanced instruction in the history of the decorative and applied arts, cultural and design history, and, garden history and landscape studies. As well as being the Center’s Director she is Professor in the History of the Decorative Arts. Prior to establishing the BGC, Susan was Executive Director of the Open Society, the umbrella name for some 24 independent foundations that support internationally the advancement of freedom of expression and cultural exchange through grants to individuals and associations, funded by her former husband, hedge fund billionaire George Soros. They married in 1983 and have two children. However the couple separated in 2004, and are now divorced.