Arthur Goodhart Altschul, Sr. '33, a financier, philanthropist, and art collector, died peacefully on March 17, 2002, at his country home in Centre Island, New York.

Mr. Altschul, who was born on April 6, 1920, was the son of Frank and Helen Altschul. The elder Mr. Altschul was a senior partner at Lazard Frères & Co. and one of the most successful financiers of his time. Helen Altschul, the former Helen Lehman Goodhart, was a leading educational philanthropist.

While Arthur Altschul's chosen profession was that of finance (in fact, he was the third generation in the Altschul family to become a banker), it was philanthropy, intellectual and artistic pursuits that formed the core of his and his parents' personal interests, and dominated much of their lives.

Mr. Altschul attended St. Bernard's School, and Deerfield Academy and was graduated from Yale University in 1943. Mr. Altschul served in the United States Marines from 1943 to 1945, achieving the rank of first lieutenant.

While attending Yale, Mr. Altschul spent a few summers as a cub reporter at The Greenwich Times. After leaving the Marines, Mr. Altschul worked as a reporter at The New York Times. While at The New York Times, Mr. Altschul apprenticed under Meyer "Mike" Berger, the legendary Times reporter, and Murray Schumach, who would become one of Mr. Altschul's lifelong friends. While his career as a journalist would be short-lived, his experiences as a reporter would have a profound influence later in life on his particular pursuits as an art collector.

Mr. Altschul left The New York Times in 1949 to pursue a career on Wall Street as an analyst at Lehman Brothers, and in 1954 he joined General American Investors, Inc., a firm started by his father. In 1959 Mr. Altschul left the close circle of family-controlled investment firms, to join Goldman Sachs & Co. as a general partner. Mr. Altschul served as a general partner of Goldman Sachs until 1977, and served as a limited partner until 1999. Starting in 1961, and contemporaneously with his partnership at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Altschul served as Chairman of General American Investors, until his retirement in 1995. Mr. Altschul's true passion in life was art collecting. In his early career as a newspaper reporter, Mr. Altschul was introduced to courtroom illustrators who would chronicle the comings and goings of the New York court system for The New York Times and other newspapers. Moved by these drawings, Mr. Altschul pursued friendships with a number of these artists. This led directly to his interest in a prominent group of American painters, known as The Ashcan School, which included William Glackens and Everett Shinn, the latter of whom became a close friend of Mr. Altschul. He went on to amass one of the great collections of American art, but that was only the beginning. Mr. Altschul simultaneously became interested in French Neo-Impressionism, or Pointillism, as well as the Les Nabis, and the School of Pont-Aven, and created one of the worlds' most prominent collections in each of these categories. Mr. Altschul attributed much of his success in tracking down important yet undiscovered works of art to the sleuthing skill he honed during his early career as a cub reporter at The Times.

In 1977, Mr. Altschul assumed the chairmanship of the board of trustees of Barnard College, a post his mother, a Barnard graduate, had also held. Mr. Altschul also served as chairman of the Overbrook Foundation, the philanthropic foundation established by his parents, through which over $150 million in charitable assets are administered.

In 1965 Mr. Altschul joined St. Bernard's board of trustees and during his ten-year term he was also president of the board. Mr. Altschul's accomplishments on behalf of St. Bernard's were many, and the school will miss him greatly. During St. Bernard's most recent Capital Campaign, Mr. Altschul served as one of four honorary chairs along with Walter Cronkite, Albert H. Gordon, and Benno Schmidt. Mr. Gordon recalls Mr. Altschul as "a man of great dependability and objectivity who never rocked the boat. He added dignity and stability to the board and had an independent point of view." Gordon remembers his fellow trustee as being very stoical and immensely proud of his sons. Altschul's childhood hobby was highlighted in the Easter 1932 Budget: "A is for Altschul who spends his vacations collecting the stamps of the various nations."

In his last years, Mr. Altschul and his wife, Patricia, an art historian, spent much time traveling and pursing their mutual interests in the arts and collecting, both in Europe and the United States. In addition to his wife Patricia, he is survived by his sons Stephen '71, Charles '72, Arthur Jr. '78; two daughters, Emily and Serena; a stepson, Whitney Sudler Smith; two grandsons; and a sister, Edith Graham.

No. 28, Spring 2002, page 23