Library of Congress Announces David M. Rubenstein as Chairman of James Madison Council
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today announced that David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private-equity firms, has agreed to serve as the chairman of the private-sector advisory group to the Library, the James Madison Council.
Rubenstein will succeed outgoing Chairman H.F. (Gerry) Lenfest, a Philadelphia philanthropist, when Lenfest steps down in October 2014.
Rubenstein, one of the nation’s leading philanthropists, has been a member of the James Madison Council since 2005 and is a major supporter of Library of Congress literacy initiatives, including both the popular National Book Festival, which attracts hundreds of thousands of booklovers each year, and also the Library of Congress literacy awards, which recognize organizations working to alleviate illiteracy in the U.S. and worldwide.
Rubenstein has also made it possible for the Library to display the historic Abel Buell map of America, the first map of the newly independent United States that was compiled, printed and published in America.
"David’s vision and business acumen will be of great benefit to the Madison Council which, since its inception in 1990, has been instrumental in helping the nation’s library share its unparalleled resources with the nation and the world. We are grateful to him for assuming this role at this important time in the Library’s history and for his willingness to give his time as well as his financial support to initiatives critical to the life of the mind," Billington said.
"I am honored to have a chance to serve my country in this way, and to do what I reasonably can to support the extraordinary efforts of Jim Billington and the dedicated staff of the Library of Congress. I look forward to working with the other members of the council and with all others interested in supporting this unique national resource," Rubenstein said.
Rubenstein chairs the boards of trustees of both the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and of Duke University. He is also a regent of the Smithsonian Institution, co-chairman of the Brookings Institution, vice-chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations and president of the Economic Club of Washington.
Rubenstein, a native of Baltimore, is a 1970 magna cum laude graduate of Duke University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his juris doctorate in 1973 from The University of Chicago Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review.
From 1973-1975, Rubenstein practiced law in New York with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
From 1975-1976, he served as chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments. From 1977-1981, during the Carter Administration, he was deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy. After his White House service and before co-founding Carlyle in 1987, Rubenstein practiced law in Washington with Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman).
The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, holds more than 158 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill and through its website at www.loc.gov.
