James Madisons Montpelier We The People Spring 2015 | Page 6

WE THE PEOPLE

Meet David Rubenstein
SHINING A LIGHT ON MADISON’S LEGACY

On a cold, clear day in December 2013, David M. Rubenstein visited Montpelier for the first time at the
invitation of Kat Imhoff, president and CEO of The Montpelier Foundation. His generous gifts toward
repairing the Washington Monument, securing a copy of the Magna Carta for the National Archives,
and others have earned him the title “patriotic philanthropist.” This moniker is now synonymous with
Rubenstein, the co-founder and co-CEO of The Carlyle Group, but James Madison’s Montpelier was
Rubenstein’s focus on this day, and in conversation with Imhoff, a few important questions kept rising to
the surface. How can we shine a brighter light on Madison’s legacy? How can we attract more visitors to
Montpelier? And how can we tell a more complete and inclusive American story?
In the following months, the discussion continued, ultimately coming back to those same questions.
The answers to those questions were publicly announced on November 1, 2014, at the 80th running
of the Montpelier Hunt Races, when Imhoff announced a $10 million lead gift from Rubenstein and
introduced him as the newest member of the Montpelier family. This transformational gift is focused on
two important areas—restoring the mansion and reconstructing the enslaved community site known as
the South Yard.
These projects have been strategic priorities for Montpelier for more than a decade, and with
Rubenstein’s support, Montpelier will be able to accelerate and, in large part, complete the mansion
restoration while returning the historic landscape back to its appearance in Madison’s time—including
better interpreting the lives of Montpelier’s enslaved community.
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