Theresa and Eugene M. Lang

Theresa and Eugene, both native New Yorkers, have made major contributions to almost all aspects of life in New York City including education, health care, business and the arts.

For over 60 years, Eugene M. Lang pursued a business career, creating a succession of diverse manufacturing ventures in the United States and abroad based on new products and innovative technologies. A charter member of the Licensing Executives Association, he became recognized internationally as having pioneered licensing and technology transfer as practical means for small American manufacturers to establish their business potential in overseas markets. Reflecting his accomplishments, Forbes Magazine characterized him as “the quintessential entrepreneur: and Nation’s Business “ a father of innovation.” An active protagonist of small business interests, he received the Government’s “E” Award from President Kennedy. As an expert in entrepreneurial ventures and small business development, he served with distinction on various U.S. Government commissions and represented the United States as a member of seven overseas economic and investment missions of the commerce and State Departments.

Since establishing the Eugene M. Lang Foundation in 1963, Mr. Lang has increasingly directed his time and talents to philanthropy. Among his most outstanding contributions are the well known “I Have a Dream” Program that he created in 1981. This program is a nationwide enterprise, providing sustained personalized guidance and support to many thousands of disadvantaged children throughout their K-12 years plus an assured college opportunity. He has created a variety of innovative scholarships, academic and social performance incentives, fellowships and chairs at many colleges. He has supported and endowed numerous internships, researches and socially-oriented projects for students and faculty.

Mr. Lang is Chairman Emeritus of Swarthmore College, founder and Chairman Emeritus of the national “I Have a Dream” Foundation, founder and Chairman emeritus of the Conference of Board Chairmen of Liberal Arts Colleges, and board member of the Columbia Business School where he established the Eugene M. Lang Center for Entrepreneurship, the Carnegie-Mellon Graduate School of Management, the New School University whose undergraduate liberal arts college bears his name, and the Individual Investors Advisory Committee of the New York Stock Exchange. Recognizing his services to education, President Bush designated him a “Point of Light” and President Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, this country’s highest civilian award.

Mr. Lang, born of immigrant parents in 1919, grew up in New York City during the Great Depression. A 1938 graduate of Swarthmore College, he earned an MS degree from Columbia University and studied mechanical engineering at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. He is a member of the Century Club and Yale Club.

Theresa Lang was born in New York City and attended Jamaica High School and Marymount Manhattan College. She is a Trustee of the New York Hospital Queens Medical Center. She is also a trustee of the Eugene M. Lang Foundation, Rockefeller University, The New York City Opera, Hunter College Foundation, Marymount Manhattan College and the Roundabout Theater. She serves on numerous committees at The New York Hospital Queens Medical Center. She donates her time generously at the Hospital and is often seen working at the Hospital Gift Shop. Along with her husband Eugene, she has made numerous charitable donations to the New York Hospital Queens Medical Center, Rockefeller Hospital, Marymount Manhattan College, Swarthmore College and the Eugene Lang College.

Eugene and Theresa have been married since 1946 and have three children, eight grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.