Trustee Elizabeth Curry dies at 74
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by Katherine Fenz, media relations manager
Elizabeth “Beth” Curry, a member of Rockefeller’s Board of Trustees, died in November at the age of 74. She had a deep passion for science and relished learning about the work of the investigators at the university, and will be missed by the Rockefeller community.
A friend of the university since the 1990s, Ms. Curry joined The Rockefeller University Council in 2008 and was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2013, serving on a number of Board committees, including Finance & Operations, Hospital, and Audit. With her husband, Rockefeller University Council member Ravenel Boykin Curry III, Ms. Curry provided generous support that touched many facets of life at the university.
“Beth’s genuine curiosity and enthusiasm for science, along with her incredible warmth and graciousness, made her a beloved member of the Rockefeller community,” said President Marc Tessier-Lavigne. “Those of us who had the privilege of working with Beth, cherished our interactions with her and we are incredibly grateful for her commitment to advancing scientific research, which greatly strengthened the University.”
An astute investor and visionary philanthropist
Ms. Curry graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1963 from Queens University in Charlotte, N.C. She became interested in finance when she was a volunteer establishing a nonprofit day care center in New Jersey while raising her three children, and subsequently enrolled in her alma mater’s M.B.A. program. In 1988, she founded Eagle Capital Management, now a $25 billion investment firm, together with her husband. The firm manages money for pension funds, families, universities and other nonprofit organizations. Ms. Curry and her husband contributed $5 million to our current Capital Campaign.
Sharing the fruits of this success through a commitment to philanthropy and pro bono work, Ms. and Mr. Curry established The Ravenel and Elizabeth Curry Foundation. Along with contributions to Rockefeller, the foundation was a major supporter of Weill Cornell Medical College and Queens University.
Ms. Curry is survived by her husband of 52 years; her three children, Ravenel Boykin Curry IV, Caroline Rivers Curry, and Marshall Anderson Curry; seven grandchildren; and her siblings, Jay Rivers, Rebecca Sullivan and Melinda Ford.
