The Department of Radiology is privileged to recognize two exceptional individuals, Frank E. Richardson and the Honorable Kimba M. Wood, as patrons of our department.
Mr. Richardson graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University in 1961, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After completing the first year of Harvard Medical School he took a leave of absence to complete a master’s degree with honors in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from the University of Oxford, England. At both Princeton and Oxford, Mr. Richardson was a member of the swimming team and a university record holder. After Oxford he decided not to become a doctor but returned to Harvard University to take a doctor of laws degree from the Harvard Law School in 1967. He practiced law as a member of the Office of General Counsel of the World Bank in Washington, D. C., before launching his business and Wall Street careers.
Mr. Richardson started at Bear Stearns & Co. in 1981, and became general partner in charge of mergers and acquisitions in 1982. In 1984 he joined Wesray Capital Corporation, the financial vehicle of former Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon and his partner Raymond Chambers, to open their New York office. He became president of the firm in 1986.
Mr. Richardson is Chairman and controlling shareholder of Enterprise NewsMedia, Inc., which owns several community newspapers in New England, with total daily circulation of approximately 100,000 readers, including papers in Quincy, Brockton, and Plymouth, Massachusetts. He is Chairman and sole owner of F.E. Richardson & Co., Inc., which manages investment interests in some 20 closely held operating businesses. He was a founding shareholder of Vestar Capital Partners and is an Advisory Director of its five limited partnership funds, the most recent of which closed in 2005 with approximately $6 billion under management. He is a founding partner of Sentinel Capital Partners, a private equity partnership founded in 1995.
Mr. Richardson is a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a director of the Metropolitan Opera Guild, as well as chairman of its Investment Committee. He is a Waynflete (honorary life) Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford and President of the American Friends of Magdalen College. He is also a member of the Dean’s Advisory Committee of the Harvard Law School and is a Trustee of the New York University School of Medicine. He is a former director of the Princeton University Investment Company, which manages the endowment of Princeton University.
Mr. Richardson is married to U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood. Judge Wood attended the University of Geneva in Switzerland, and graduated from Connecticut College in 1965 with a B.A. in Government. She then received an M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1969. She was a partner in a New York law firm, concentrating on antitrust litigation. Since 1988 she has been a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. She is a Trustee and Secretary of The New York City Ballet.