View source for Sanford I. Weill

{{Short description|American banker and philanthropist (born 1933)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Sandy Weill
| image              = Sanford Weill 2 Shankbone Metropolitan Opera 2009.jpg
| caption            = Weill in 2009
| birth_name         = Sanford I. Weill
| birth_date         = {{Birth date and age|1933|3|16|mf=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[New York City]], U.S.
| education          = [[Cornell University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| occupation         = Banker, financier
| spouse             = {{Marriage|Joan H. Mosher|1955}}
| children           = 2
}}

'''Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill''' ({{IPAc-en|w|aɪ|l}}; born March 16, 1933) is an American banker, financier, and [[philanthropy|philanthropist]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/biography/Sanford-I-Weill|title=Sanford I. Weill - American financier and philanthropist|access-date=10 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Sandy_Weill.aspx|title=Sandy Weill Facts, information, pictures - Encyclopedia.com articles about Sandy Weill|access-date=10 September 2016}}</ref> He is a former chief executive and chairman of [[Citigroup]]. He served in those positions from 1998 until October 1, 2003, and April 18, 2006, respectively.

==Early life and education==
Weill was born in the [[Bensonhurst]] section of [[Brooklyn]], New York City, to [[History of the Jews in Poland|Polish Jewish]] immigrants, Etta (Kalika) and Max Weill.<ref name ="BusIns">{{cite news|author=Ben Duronio|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/sandy-weills-greatest-hitsand-shocking-turnaround-2012-7?op=1|title=Here's Why It's So Crazy That Sandy Weill Wants To Break Up The Banks|access-date=13 September 2013|newspaper=[[Business Insider]]|date=July 25, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/S-Z/Weill-Sandy-1933.html|title=Sandy Weill 1933— Biography - Grows up in brooklyn, Parentssplit imperils plans|access-date=10 September 2016}}</ref> He attended P.S. 200 of the New York City Public Schools system for [[elementary school]] in his local neighborhood of Bensonhurst. He also attended [[Peekskill Military Academy]] in [[Peekskill, New York]] of [[Upstate New York]], and then enrolled at [[Cornell University]] in [[Ithaca, New York]], where he was active in the [[Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps|U.S. Air Force ROTC]] and [[Alpha Epsilon Pi]] fraternity. In 1955, Weill graduated with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in government from Cornell.<ref name ="BusIns"/>

Weill's middle initial of "I" is not an abbreviation for anything. In 2002, he said:

{{Blockquote|My mother wanted to name me after somebody whose name started with an "I", but she couldn't think of a name she liked. So she gave me the initial with the idea that after I was 21 I could choose whatever middle name I wanted.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=MqIPyvwxHboC&dq=sanford+weill+middle+name&pg=PA24 ''King of Capital: Sandy Weill and the Making of Citigroup''], By Amey Stone, Mike Brewster, John Wiley and Sons, 2002 {{ISBN|0-471-33015-9}}</ref>}}

==Career==
{{BLP sources section|date=June 2023}}
In 1955, shortly after graduating from Cornell, Weill began his first job on [[Wall Street]], serving as a runner for [[Bear Stearns]]. In 1956, he became a licensed broker at [[Bear Stearns]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6227898 | title=Sandy Weill and the Story Behind Citigroup | first=STEVE | last=INSKEEP | work=[[NPR]] | date=October 10, 2006}}</ref> Rather than making phone calls or personal visits to solicit clients, Weill found he was far more comfortable sitting at his desk, poring through companies' [[financial statement]]s and disclosures made to the [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]]. For weeks his only client was his mother, Etta, until his later to be wife, Joan, persuaded an ex-boyfriend to open a brokerage account.

===Building Shearson===
While working at Bear Stearns, Weill was a neighbor of [[Arthur L. Carter]] who was working at [[Lehman Brothers]]. Together with [[Roger Berlind]] and Peter Potoma, they formed [[Carter, Berlind, Potoma & Weill]] in May 1960.<ref name=cnbc>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2014/04/29/25-sandy-weill.html|title=21. Sandy Weill: Banker and Wall Street dealmaker|date=29 April 2014|website=[[CNBC]]|access-date=15 April 2019}}</ref> In 1962 the firm became [[Carter, Berlind & Weill]] after the [[New York Stock Exchange]] brought disciplinary proceedings against Potoma.

In 1968, with the departure of Arthur Carter, the firm was renamed [[Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt]] ([[Marshall Cogan]], [[Arthur Levitt]]), or CBWL jokingly referred to on Wall Street as "Corned Beef With Lettuce".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/arthur-levitts-life-of-reinvention/2017/02/17/e45849ca-f2c9-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html|title=Arthur Levitt's life of reinvention|date=17 February 2017|last=Heath|first=Thomas|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=15 April 2019}}</ref> Weill served as the firm's Chairman from 1965 to 1984, a period in which it completed over 15 acquisitions to become the country's second-largest securities brokerage firm. The company became [[CBWL-Hayden, Stone, Inc.]] in 1970; [[Hayden Stone, Inc.]] in 1972; [[Shearson Hayden Stone]] in 1974, when it merged with [[Shearson Hammill & Co.]]; and [[Shearson Loeb Rhoades]] in 1979, when it merged with [[Loeb, Rhoades, Hornblower & Co.]]

With capital totaling $250 million, [[Shearson Loeb Rhoades]] trailed only [[Merrill Lynch]] as the largest securities [[broker]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/15/archives/shearson-and-loeb-to-merge-move-would-form-wall-sts-no-2-firm.html|title=Move Would Form Wall St.'s No. 2 Firm|date=15 May 1979|last=Varian|first=Vartanig|website=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=15 April 2019}}</ref>

===American Express===
In 1981, Weill sold Shearson Loeb Rhoades to [[American Express]] for about $915 million in stock.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/22/business/american-express-to-buy-shearson-as-takeovers-transform-wall-st.html|title=American Express to Buy Shearson as Takeovers Transform Wall St.|date=22 April 1981|last=Cole|first=Robert|website=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=15 April 2019}}</ref> In 1982, he founded the [[National Academy Foundation (non-profit organization)|National Academy Foundation]] with the [[Academy of Finance]] to educate high school students. Weill began serving as president of American Express Co. in 1983 and as chairman and CEO of American Express's insurance subsidiary, [[Fireman's Fund Insurance Company]], in 1984. Weill was succeeded by his protégé, [[Peter A. Cohen]], who became the youngest head of a Wall Street firm.<ref name=bonfire>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081215161205/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,969389,00.html "Vanities on The Bonfire: Peter Cohen"]. ''Time'', February 12, 1990</ref> While at American Express, Weill began grooming his newest protégé, [[Jamie Dimon]], the future CEO of [[JPMorgan Chase]].

===Acquisitions===
Weill resigned from American Express in August 1985 at age 52. After an attempt to become the CEO of [[Bank of America|BankAmerica Corp.]], he persuaded [[Minneapolis]]-based [[Control Data Corporation]] to spin off a troubled subsidiary, Commercial Credit, a [[consumer finance]] company. In 1986, Weill bought Commercial Credit for $7 million.<ref name=cnbc/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://money.cnn.com/2008/08/29/news/companies/tully_dimon.fortune/|title=Jamie Dimon's swat team|date=2 September 2008|last=Tully|first=Shawn|access-date=15 April 2019}}</ref> After a period of layoffs and reorganization, the company completed a successful [[initial public offering|IPO]].

In 1987, he acquired Gulf Insurance. The following year, in 1988, he paid $1.5 billion for [[Primerica]], the parent company of [[Smith Barney]] and the A. L. Williams insurance company. In 1989, he acquired [[Drexel Burnham Lambert]]'s retail [[broker]]age outlets. In 1992, he paid $722 million to buy a 27% share of [[Travelers Insurance]], which had gotten into trouble because of bad [[real estate]] investments.

In 1993, he reacquired his old Shearson brokerage (now [[Shearson Lehman]]) from American Express for $1.2 billion. By the end of the year, he had completely taken over Travelers Corp in a $4 billion stock deal and officially began calling his corporation [[Travelers Group]] Inc. In 1996 he added to his holdings, at a cost of $4 billion, the [[property and casualty]] operations of [[Aetna, Inc.|Aetna Life & Casualty]]. In September 1997 Weill acquired Salomon Inc., the parent company of [[Salomon Brothers]] Inc. for over $9 billion in stock.

===Citigroup===
[[File:Sanford Weill.jpg|thumb|Sanford I. ("Sandy") Weill, at age 74, after retirement as C.E.O. of [[Citigroup]] in [[New York City]] in 2007]]
In April 1998, [[Travelers Group]] announced an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and [[Citicorp]], and the merger was completed on October 8, 1998. The possibility remained that the merger would run into problems connected with federal law. Ever since the passage of the [[Glass–Steagall Act]] of 1932, during the [[Presidency of Herbert Hoover|presidential administration]], of 31st [[President of the United States|President]], [[Herbert Hoover]] (1874–1964, served 1929–1933), the fields of [[bank]]ing and [[insurance]] businesses had been kept separate. Both Weill and CEO / chairman predecessor [[John S. Reed]] (born 1939), bet that the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] would soon pass [[legislation]] overturning those regulations, which Weill, Reed and a number of businesspeople considered not in their interest.

To speed up the process, they recruited to the Board of Directors of the financial company former 38th [[President of the United States|President]], [[Gerald R. Ford]] (1913–2006, served 1974–1977, a Republican) and former [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|U.S. Treasury Secretary]] [[Robert Rubin]] (born 1938, who served during the Democratic [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|Bill Clinton presidential administration]], 1993–2001) whom Weill was personally close to. With both [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] on their side, the law was taken down in less than two years. Many [[Europe]]an countries, for instance, had already torn down the firewall between [[banking]] and [[insurance]]. During a two-to-five-year [[grace period]] allowed by law, Citigroup could conduct business in its merged form; should that period have elapsed without a change in the law, Citigroup would have had to spin off its insurance businesses. Weill's office holds a wood etching of him engraved with the words "The Shatterer of Glass–Steagall". Weill now denies that the congressional repeal of the 1932 [[Glass–Steagall Act]] played a role in the [[2008 financial crisis]] and subsequent [[Great Recession]], the worst economic downturn and financial collapse in [[History of the United States|American history]] since the infamous [[Great Depression]] of the [[1930s]].<ref>{{cite news| last = Brooker| first = Katrina| title = Citi's Creator, Alone With His Regrets| work = [[The New York Times]]| date = 2010-01-02| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/business/economy/03weill.html?pagewanted=1| access-date = 2010-01-12}}</ref>

In 1998, Weill was the recipient of ''FinancialWorld Magazine''{{'}}s CEO of the Year Award and received the same honor from ''ChiefExecutive Magazine'' in 2002.

In 2001, Weill became a Class A director of the [[Federal Reserve Bank of New York]] of the United States [[Federal Reserve]] system. Class A directors are those elected by the [[Federal Reserve]] [[Federal Reserve Bank|member regional banks]]. Also in 2001, Weill established several offshore enterprises, including one through which he owned his [[yacht]].  These entities were identified in the infamous [[Panama Papers]] scandal, a release in 2016 of secret financial documents dating back to the [[1970s]], of off-shore overseas / foreign money deposits and secret bank accounts of millions of dollars of wealthy Americans and others hiding them for federal / state [[income tax]] purposes.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/06/us/panama-papers.html|title=Panama Papers Show How Rich United States Clients Hid Millions Abroad|last1=Lipton|first1=Eric|date=2016-06-05|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-08-10|last2=Creswell|first2=Julie|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In 2002, the financial company was hit by the wave of [[Wall Street]] managerial restructuring that followed the earlier [[stock market downturn of 2002]]. The following year of 2003, Weill sold 5.6 million shares of Citigroup stock back to the financial institution itself for nearly $264 million and semi-retired, relinquishing the title of chief executive officer (CEO) to [[Charles O. Prince|Charles O. ("Chuck") Prince]] (born 1950), who however only served for the next few years, stepping down himself as both CEO and one year as chairman in 2007). But Weill remained chairman of the board of directors of Citigroup in 2002 until four years later in 2006.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/03/business/company-news-citigroup-purchases-264-million-in-shares-from-weill.html|title=COMPANY NEWS; CITIGROUP PURCHASES $264 MILLION IN SHARES FROM WEILL|date=3 October 2003|publisher=The Associated Press|website=NYT.com|access-date=13 April 2019}}</ref>

Four years after the beginning of the shocking economic panic and financial collapse of the [[Great Recession]] of 2007–2011, on July 25, 2012, Weill reversed course on the financial supermarket, and was quoted saying: "What we should probably do is go and split up investment banking from banking, have banks be deposit takers, have banks make commercial loans and real estate loans, have banks do something that's not going to risk the taxpayer dollars, that's not too big to fail," Weill said on [[CNBC]] (the business / financial news [[cable television]] network): "If they want to hedge what they're doing with their investments, let them do it in a way that's going to be mark-to-market so they're never going to be hit."<ref>{{Cite news| url = https://www.cnbc.com/2012/07/25/wall-street-legend-sandy-weill-break-up-the-big-banks.html|title= Wall Street Legend Sandy Weill: Break Up the Big Banks|publisher=[[CNBC]] |date = July 25, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| url =http://www.slate.com/blogs/spitzer/2012/07/25/former_citigroup_boss_sandy_weill_says_big_banks_should_be_broken_up.html |title= Bombshell: Former Citigroup Boss Sandy Weill Says the Big Banks Should Be Broken Up|author= Eliot Spitzer|author-link= Eliot Spitzer|publisher=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|date = July 25, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| url =https://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/wall-street-sandy-weill-break-big-banks-132940039.html|title=Ex-Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill: 'Split up' the big banks|author= Dylan Stableford|publisher=[[Yahoo! News]] |date =July 25, 2012}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Weill married Joan H. Mosher on June 20, 1955. The couple now live on a 362 acres estate they purchased in 2010 in [[Sonoma, California]]. 

He has two children. Jessica Bibliowicz worked in financial services under her father at firms such as Smith Barney<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-07-31 |title=Jessica Bibliowicz |url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/awards/jessica-bibliowicz |access-date=2025-07-22 |website=Crain's New York Business |language=en}}</ref> and served as CEO of National Financial Partners until its eventual acquisition.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Apollo Appoints Jessica Bibliowicz to Board of Directors |url=https://www.apollo.com/insights-news/pressreleases/2022/03/apollo-appoints-jessica-bibliowicz-to-board-of-directors-130409344 |access-date=2025-07-22 |website=www.apollo.com |language=en}}</ref> Marc Weill also worked in financial services companies run by his father, at one point serving as the CEO of Citigroup Investments until resigning in 2000 and becoming involved in venture capital.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Marc P. Weill. - Free Online Library |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Marc+P.+Weill.-a0174196896 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250722035417/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Marc+P.+Weill.-a0174196896 |archive-date=2025-07-22 |access-date=2025-07-22 |website=www.thefreelibrary.com}}</ref> 

==Philanthropy==
{{BLP sources section|date=June 2023}}
{{Multiple image
| header = Weill and Cornell
| align = right
| direction = 
| total_width = 280
| perrow = 2/1
| image1= NewYork-Presbyterian-Weill_Cornell_Medical_Center.jpg
| caption1 = New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center (68th Street, Manhattan)
| image2= Weill Cornell Medicine at 1300 York Avenue NYC (cropped).jpg
| caption2 = Weill Cornell Medicine (York Avenue, Manhattan)
| image3 = Weill Hall, Cornell University.jpg
| caption3 = [[Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology]] ([[Cornell University|Cornell]]'s  [[Ithaca, New York|Ithaca]] campus)
}}
In 1997, Weill received the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]]. His Golden Plate was presented by Awards Council member, retired [[U.S. Army]] [[General (United States)|General]] and former [[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]] and also later [[U.S. Secretary of State]], [[Colin Powell]] (1937–2021).<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#business}}</ref>

Weill served as a Cornell Trustee, his [[alma mater]]. In 1998, he endowed Cornell's [[medical school]], now known as [[Weill Cornell Medicine]], located on the [[Upper East Side, Manhattan|Upper East Side]] of [[Manhattan]] in [[New York City]] (separate from Cornel's main campus in Ithaca).  As chairman of the Board of Overseers of the Weill Cornell Medical College and an emeritus member of the Board of Trustees of Cornell University itself, Weill orchestrated a $400 million donation to Cornell, to which he and his wife personally contributed $250 million.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/nyregion/13hospital.html?_r=1&oref=slogin | work=The New York Times | title=Cornell Medical School to Get $400 Million for Research Centers | first=Anthony | last=Ramirez | date=June 13, 2007 | access-date=May 23, 2010}}</ref>

In June 2007, he endowed the [[Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology]] at his [[alma mater]] of [[Cornell University]], on its campus in [[Ithaca, New York]], housed in a new life science building named Weill Hall. On September 10, 2013, Joan and Sandy Weill and the Weill Family Foundation announced a $100 million gift to Weill Cornell. Weill is chairman of the Board of Overseers of Weill Cornell Medical College and the parallel [[Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences]], having joined the board in 1982 and becoming its chair in 1995. Weill Cornell established the first American medical school overseas in [[Doha, Qatar|Doha]], the modernist [[capital city]] of the [[Qatar|emirate State of Qatar]] in the [[Middle East]] / [[Persian Gulf]] region, in 2001. This was made possible through a special partnership between Weill Cornell and the [[Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development]]. Weill Cornell's inaugural class in [[Qatar]] graduated in 2008.

Weill also serves on the Board of Governors of [[Sidra Medical and Research Center|Sidra]]. a 380-bed specialty teaching hospital was scheduled to open in 2014, also in the [[Qatar|emirate State of Qatar]] in the [[Middle East]] / [[Persian Gulf]]. Sidra is supported by a $9 billion endowment from the [[Qatar Foundation]]. In addition, he is a Trustee of [[New York-Presbyterian Hospital]]; a Trustee of the Hospital for Special Surgery; and a member of the Executive Council of the [[University of California, San Francisco|University of California at San Francisco]] Medical Center.

In May 2003, he received the Baruch Medal for Business and Civic Leadership, presented by [[Baruch College]] of the [[City University of New York]] system for his work in public education and his accomplishments in business.

A proponent of education, Weill instituted a joint program with the [[New York City Board of Education]] in 1980 that created the specialized [[magnet school]] of the Academy of Finance, which trains [[high school]] students for careers in financial services. He serves as Founder and Chairman of the [[National Academy Foundation]] (NAF), which oversees more than 100,000 students in 617 career-themed academies of finance, hospitality and tourism, information technology, engineering, and health sciences, in 35 states, as well as the [[District of Columbia]] ([[Washington, D.C.]]) and the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] (in the [[Caribbean Sea]] / [[West Indies]] islands). Ninety-nine percent of NAF's students graduate, with eighty-seven percent going on to post-secondary education – often as the first in their families to attend college. Former [[Governor of New York|New York Governor]] [[Andrew Cuomo]] (born 1957, served 2011–2021), appointed Weill as a member of his New York Education Reform Commission.

Weill has received honorary [[academic degree|degrees]] from [[Howard University]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], [[Hofstra University]] in [[Hempstead, New York]] on [[Long Island]], the [[University of New Haven]] in [[New Haven, Connecticut]], [[The New School]] in [[New York City]], and the [[Sonoma State University]] in [[Sonoma, California]].
[[File:Joan and Sanford Weill Shankbone 2009 Metropolitan Opera.jpg|thumb|wife Joan H. Mosher Weill and Sanford I. ("Sandy") Weill at age 76 at the opening night of the [[Metropolitan Opera]]'s ''[[Tosca]]'' in [[New York City]] in 2009]]
He previously served as the chairman of the Board of the famous [[19th century]] concert hall / auditorium of [[Carnegie Hall]], built 1891 on [[Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)|Seventh Avenue]] (between [[56th Street (Manhattan)|56th]] and [[57th Street (Manhattan)|57th Streets]], in [[Manhattan]]),  of New York City,  until 2016, and both he and his wife Joan are avid champions and lovers of [[classical music]] in the United States, frequently attending various concerts across the country. Since 1986, one of the three performance halls in landmark Carnegie Hall has been named after Weill and his wife, [[Carnegie Hall#Weill Recital Hall|Joan and Sanford I. Weill Recital Hall]]. The 1997 recipient of the New York State Governor's Art Award, Weill has been chairman of the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Hall since 1991. For Weill's 70th birthday, Carnegie Hall raised a record $60 million in one evening event through a generous $30 million match by Weill and his wife for the Weill Music Institute, which established broad-reaching music education programs. Weill is also chairman of the Green Music Center Board of Advisors at the [[Sonoma State University]] in California and a director of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation.

In September 2006, Joan and Sanford Weill Hall was dedicated at the [[University of Michigan]] at [[Ann Arbor, Michigan]]. The building is home to the [[Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy]], named for [[Gerald R. Ford]] (1913–2006, served 1974–1977), as the 38th [[President of the United States]], at President Ford's alma mater and shortly after his death. Weill donated $5 million towards the construction of the Ford Public Policy School building and an additional $3 million to endow the position of the academic dean of the U.M. Ford School.

Joan and Sanford Weill have been co-chairs, of the annual "[[Louis Marshall|Louis Marshall Award Dinner]]", from 2000 to 2010.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.jtsa.edu/x12311.xml |date=October 15, 2009 |title=JTS to Honor Visionary Leader Gershon Kekst at Louis B. Marshall Award Dinner |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219025206/http://www.jtsa.edu/x12311.xml |archive-date=February 19, 2012 }}</ref>

In 2002, the Joan Weill Adirondack Library and Joan Weill Student Center were dedicated at the [[Paul Smith's College]] in the small hamlet / village of [[Paul Smiths, New York]], (near the larger town of [[Brighton, Franklin County, New York|Brighton]] in [[Franklin County, New York|Franklin County]] of the [[Adirondacks|Adirondacks Mountains]] region of northern [[Upstate New York]]), where she was a trustee.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/259/20020201/joan-weill-adirondack-library-opens-at-paul-smith-s-college-with-reading-by-publisher-tom-hughes |date=1 February 2002 |title=Joan Weill Adirondack Library Opens at Paul Smith's College with Reading by Publisher Tom Hughes |access-date=November 14, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| url = http://adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/530564/Joan-Weill-to-deliver-commencement-address-at-Paul-Smith-s-College.html?nav=5008|title= Joan Weill to deliver commencement address at Paul Smith's College|publisher=Adirondack Daily Enterprise |date = April 27, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{YouTube|FSOC9jJHeJk}}</ref>

The Weills are recipients of the 2009 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy Award.<ref>{{Cite news| url = http://www.nysun.com/blogs/out-and-about/2009/10/bloomberg-weill-to-receive-2009-carnegie.html|title=Bloomberg, Weill to Receive 2009 Carnegie Medals of Philanthropy|author= Amanda Gordon|publisher=[[The New York Sun]] |date = October 9, 2009}}</ref> Sanford I. Weill was the 2015 recipient of the Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence.<ref name="Carnegie-medal-excellence">{{cite web|title=Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence Gala Honoring Sanford I. Weill|url=http://www.carnegiehall.org/MedalOfExcellence/|website=Carnegie Hall|access-date=26 June 2016}}</ref>

In 2010, the Weills bought a 362-acre estate in [[Sonoma County, California]]. In March 2011, the Weills announced a $12 million gift to nearby [[Sonoma State University]], providing the funds to complete the Donald and Maureen Green Music Center concert hall for a fall 2012 opening. The facility, inspired / influenced by the previous similar designed [[Seiji Ozawa]] Hall at [[Tanglewood]], the famous [[music venue]] and [[music festival]] performance center (and the summer home of the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]] since 1937), near the towns of [[Lenox, Massachusetts|Lenox]] / [[Stockbridge, Massachusetts|Stockbridge]] of [[Berkshire County, Massachusetts|Berkshire County]] in the [[Berkshire Hills]] of [[Western Massachusetts]], The matching Green Music Center pavilion in California has been named the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Hall. "We love to be involved in the communities where we spend time," Sandy Weill commented to an interviewer.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.pressdemocrat.com/csp/mediapool/sites/PressDemocrat/News/story.csp?cid=2294138&sid=555&fid=181 | title=SSU gets $12 million donation for Green Music Center | first=Guy | last=Kovner | work=[[The Press Democrat]] | date=March 22, 2011}}</ref>

In 2011, [[Rambam Medical Center]] in [[Haifa, Israel|Haifa]] on the [[Mediterranean Sea]] northern coast of the [[Israel|State of Israel]] and its supporting organization of the American Friends of the Rambam Medical Center announced that Joan and Sandy Weill and the Weill Family Foundation made a donation of $10 million. In addition, the money was intended to support the [[Israeli-Palestinian Friendship Center]] and enable the hospital to better serve patients from the [[Palestine|Palestinian]] / [[Arab]]-populated areas of the [[Gaza Strip]] and the [[West Bank]] by making residential hostel facilities available to their families while providing advanced medical training to Palestinian residents, fellows, and nursing staff.<ref>{{cite news|title=NY couple gives Haifa hospital $10M|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4111112,00.html|access-date=11 September 2013|newspaper=[[Ynet]]|date=August 30, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Rambam Medical Center Receives $10 Million Gift from Philanthropists Joan and Sanford I. Weill and the Weill Family Foundation|url=http://www.rambam.org.il/Home+Page/About+Us/News+and+Events/News+2011/Rambam+Medical+Center+Receives+10m+Gift+from+Weill+Family.htm|work=[[Rambam health care campus]]|access-date=11 September 2013}}</ref>

In 2012, Weill was elected a member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], among other prominent Americans.<ref>
{{cite press release | publisher=[[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] | date=April 17, 2012 | title=Hillary Rodham Clinton, Tyler Jacks, Andre Previn, and Melinda F. Gates Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences | url= http://www.amacad.org/news/pressReleaseContent.aspx?i=167 }}</ref>

In September 2013, Weill and his wife wrote an op-ed article for the [[CNBC]] business / financial news [[cable television]] network, stating that philanthropy goes beyond just money. "For us, philanthropy is much more than just writing a check. It's donating your time, energy, experience, and intellect to the causes and organizations you are passionate about."<ref>{{cite web|last=Weill|first=Joan|title=Philanthropy isn't just about money|date=9 September 2013 |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2013/09/09/philanthropy-isnt-just-about-money-sandy-and-joan-weill.html|publisher=CNBC|access-date=12 September 2013}}</ref>

In 2015, former trustee [[Joan Weill]] offered an additional $20 million to the [[Paul Smith's College]], but only if it changed its name to "Joan Weill-Paul Smith's College", a change that would have violated the terms of the devise of the school's real property, which required that the school be "forever known" as Paul Smith's College of Arts and Sciences. Paul Smith's then applied to the [[New York Supreme Court|New York State Supreme Court]] in the [[state capital]] of [[Albany, New York|Albany]], for a release from the naming clause of Phelps Smith, the 1937 donor's will, arguing that its continued future financial survival depended on receipt of trustee Mrs. Weill's generous $20 million gift. Notwithstanding that argument, there was considerable opposition to the requested name change from college alumni and others. The college was originally funded by the last will and testament of [[Apollos Smith|Apollo ("Paul") Smith]]'s youngest son, Phelps Smith, who specified that the collegiate institution should be "forever known" by his father's, ([[Apollos Smith|Apollos ("Paul") Smith]] (1825–1912), and founder of the notable local resort [[Paul Smith's Hotel]] in the [[Adirondacks|Adirondacks Mountains]] region of northern [[Upstate New York]]) name. In light of the potential donation, the college petitioned to be released from the will's conditions, but their appeal was denied by Judge John T. Ellis of the state supreme court in August 2015, and the Weill donation was unfortunately withdrawn.<ref>{{cite web | last =Hussey | first =Kristin | title =Paul Smith's College Will Get $20 million, if It Changes Its Name | work =[[New York Times]] | date =August 17, 2015 | url =https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/18/nyregion/paul-smiths-college-gets-20-million-gift-with-one-big-requirement.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur | access-date =August 18, 2015}}</ref>

In 2016, Sandy and Joan Weill announced a $185 million contribution to the [[University of California, San Francisco|University of California at San Francisco]] (UCSF) for a new [[neuroscience]] institute. At the time, the gift was the largest donation in the university branch campus' history. The Weill Institute for Neurosciences is now currently housed in a $316 million facility at UCSF's [[Mission Bay, San Francisco|Mission Bay]] campus in [[San Francisco]]. The Weills hope the Institute there will develop more effective treatments for such debilitating and increasing amounts of diseases such as [[Alzheimer's disease|Alzheimer's]], [[Parkinson's disease|Parkinson's]] diseases of the human [[brain]], plus [[multiple sclerosis]], [[sleep disorders]], [[autism]], and other brain-related ailments.<ref>Robert Digitale (April 25, 2016), "Weills give $185 million for neuroscience," ''The Press Democrat'', A1-2.</ref> In 2019, the Weills pledged an additional $106 million for [[neuroscience]] research at UCSF, along with similar other research work being done at the [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]], and at the [[University of Washington]] in [[Seattle]], further north up the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]].<ref>Maria Di Mento (November 12, 2019), "Sanford and Joan Weill give $105 million to Neuroscience Research at 3 Universities," ''The Chronicle of Philanthropy''</ref>  The Weills are among UC Berkeley's top benefactors, with the couple contributing over $52 million in fiscal year 2020 alone; Weill Hall is named in their honor, and Sandy Weill is a member of the university's board of visitors.<ref>{{cite web|author=Julia Cooper|title=Largest UC Berkeley Contributors|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/subscriber-only/2020/11/13/largest-contributors-to-uc-berkeley.html|website=San Francisco Business Times|date=November 13, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://chancellor.berkeley.edu/about-office/advisory-groups/board-visitors|title=Board of Visitors|website=Berkeley Office of the Chancellor|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201016201349/https://chancellor.berkeley.edu/about-office/advisory-groups/board-visitors |access-date=November 10, 2022|archive-date=2020-10-16 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://bds.berkeley.edu/lsa|title=Weill Hall|website=berkeley.edu, Biosciences Divisional Services}}</ref>

In 2025, Sandy and Joan Weill pledged a $100 million matching grant through the Weill Family Foundation to establish the [[Weill Cancer Hub West]], a ten-year, $200 million initiative uniting the [[UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center]] and the [[Stanford Cancer Institute]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Gift Launches $200M Initiative for the Weill Cancer Hub West |url=https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2025/05/430061/gift-launches-200-million-initiative-weill-cancer-hub-west |website=UCSF News |date=May 20, 2025 |access-date=July 23, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=UCSF, Stanford launch $200 million cancer hub to drive breakthroughs in care |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/cancer-center-ucsf-stanford-20771498.php |website=San Francisco Chronicle |date=May 20, 2025 |access-date=July 23, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Dolan |first=Kerry A. |title=Former Citigroup Chair Sandy Weill’s New $100 Million Gift To Harness AI For A West Coast Cancer Hub |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2025/07/23/former-citigroup-chair-sandy-weills-new-100-million-gift-to-harness-ai-for-a-west-coast-cancer-hub/ |website=Forbes |date=July 23, 2025 |access-date=July 23, 2025}}</ref> The project aims to raise an additional $100 million—$50 million from each university—bringing total funding to $200 million. The initiative supports four key research areas: in-body [[CAR-T]] cell engineering to generate therapeutic immune cells within patients; [[artificial intelligence]]-guided cellular therapies for treatment-resistant tumors; interventions in diet and metabolism to improve cancer outcomes (including in [[pancreatic cancer]]); and AI-driven personalized care to tailor treatments using genomic, clinical, and lifestyle data. 

The Weill Cancer Hub West is the largest collaborative cancer research initiative on the West Coast and is intended to accelerate cancer discoveries through partnership across institutions, advanced technologies, and translational science. The initiative builds on earlier efforts such as the Weill Cancer Hub East and complements the Weills’ extensive philanthropic legacy, which includes more than $1 billion in lifetime giving and over $400 million directed toward research and education in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]].

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Sanford Weill}}
*{{C-SPAN|56189}}
**[https://www.c-span.org/video/?170772-1/tearing-walls ''Tearing Down the Walls: How Sandy Weill Fought His Way to the Top of the Financial World And Then Nearly Lost it All''], ''Booknotes'' interview with Monica Langley on May 11, 2003
*{{Charlie Rose view|102}}
*{{IMDb name|2485425}}
*{{NYTtopic|people/w/sanford_i_weill}}
*[http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/S-Z/Weill-Sandy-1933.html Sandy Weill] at ''Reference for Business''
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160313224318/http://www.mcgrawprize.com/winners/past/ Past Winners of Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education]

;Articles
*HW Wilson: [http://wilsontxt.hwwilson.com/cbimages/1983/024/262/p1.htm Today's Profile - 1999]
*''[[The Banker]]'': "[http://www.thebanker.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/227/Is_Sandy_losing_focus__.html Is Sandy losing focus?]," September 2, 2002.
*[http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/073102_ss1.html "Knowledge at Wharton"].
*Norris, Floyd. "[https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/17/business/changing-the-guard-market-place-a-climb-to-riches-one-merger-at-a-time.html Citigroup's Climb to Riches, One Merger at a Time with Sanford I. Weill]", ''New York Times'', July 17, 2003.
*"[https://web.archive.org/web/20040822231504/http://www.whartonjournal.com/news/2003/09/22/News/Sandy.Weill.Sits.Down.With.The.Wj-471365.shtml Sandy Weill Sits Down With the WJ]", ''Wharton Journal'', September 22, 2003.
*"[https://web.archive.org/web/20050502152958/http://www.time.com/time/globalbusiness/article/0,9171,1101030324-433269,00.html Sandy's Story]," ''Time'', March 24, 2003.
* [https://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2006-12-17-advice-weill_x.htm?tab1=t4 ''USA Today'' Q&A]

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