Robert, Stephen (1940 - )
Role: class of 1962; trustee, chancellorDates: chancellor 1998-2007
Portrait Location: Sayles Hall 108
Artist: Polson, Steven ()
Portrait Date: 2007
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 44 1/4
Framed Dimensions: 53 1/4
Brown Portrait Number: 310
Brown Historical Property Number: 0
Stephen Robert was chancellor of Brown University, from 1998 to 2007. A 1962 graduate of Brown, Robert served the University in numerous capacities. He was elected a member of the Board of Trustees in 1997 after serving a three-year term on the Board of Fellows. He was elected vice chancellor and chancellor-elect of the University in February 1997. He previously served as a member of the Board of Trustees from 1984 to 1990 and from 1991 to 1994. Robert served on numerous committees and was chairman of the Committee on Investment from 1986 to 1997. He also chaired the 2000 presidential selection committee that named Ruth J. Simmons Brown’s 18th president. The Stephen J. Robert ’62 Campus Center was named in honor of his leadership and achievements. In 2007 he was awarded Brown University’s Rosenberger Medal for “specially notable or beneficial achievement.”
Robert, who also attended the Columbia University Business School and the London School of Economics, is chairman and CEO of Renaissance Institutional Management LLC and former chairman and chief executive officer of Oppenheimer Group Inc. He is a director of the New York Philharmonic and Thirteen/WNET. Robert is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the corporate board of Blackstone Alternative Asset Management. He has served on the board of Xerox Corporation and was a founding member of NAC Reinsurance Corporation.
Chancellor Robert's portrait was painted by Steven Polson, who received his B.F.A. from Cooper Union, and also studied at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League in New York City. An admirer of the Old Masters, Polson exhibits in his canvases a classical composition and palette. Notable portraits by the artist include Bill Richardson (former secretary of energy and U.N. ambassador), Ron Brown (former secretary of commerce), Mickey Kantor (former U.S. trade representative), Christine Todd Whitman (former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator), and businessmen Ernest and Julio Gallo.