Benno C. Schmidt Jr.

Benno C. Schmidt, Jr. is a former president of Yale University, serving from 1986 to 1992 as the sixteenth president of the college. Immediately prior to becoming Yale's president, Schmidt was Dean of Columbia Law School. He is the current chairman of the City University of New York Board of Trustees. He is also President of Edison Schools, a for-profit corporation which operates public schools in several districts which have been unable to run schools well on their own.

Benno Schmidt's father was Benno Schmidt, Sr., who coined the term "venture capital." With John "Jock" Hay Whitney, Schmidt, Sr. started, in 1946, what became the first venture capital firm in the U.S., J.H. Whitney & Co.

Jock Whitney served as Senior Fellow of the Yale Corporation. In part owing to this fact, Whitney lobbied and succeeded in gaining the support of Corporation members in appointing Schmidt, Jr. to the presidency.

Schmidt raised over a billion dollars for Yale, but despite his success, members of the faculty, both then and now, complained that he was never on campus. Placards stood outside Woodbridge Hall saying, "Where's Benno?" As part of his agreement to serve, he maintained a primary residence in New York City. There are many faculty-members today, however, who were present during the Schmidt years who would disagree vociferously with this perception and remember President Schmidt as a very accessible president.

Preceded by: A. Bartlett Giamatti

Presidents of Yale

Succeeded by: Howard R. Lamar