SOURCE OF WEALTH: Highbridge Capital, Talpion Fund Management
FUNDING AREAS: Jewish Causes, Education
OVERVIEW: Henry and Esther Swieca un the Swieca Family Foundation. According to available tax filings, the foundation awarded $1.65 million in grants in 2017. The couple supports Jewish and educational organizations, prioritizing the greater New York City area and Israel.
BACKGROUND: Raised in the Washington Heights area of New York City, Henry Swieca graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and earned an M.B.A. from Columbia University’s Business School. Swieca cofounded the investment firm Highbridge Capital in 1992 with childhood friend Glenn Dubin. In 2010, he sold his stake in Highbridge to JPMorgan Chase and established Talpion Fund Management.
ISSUES:
JEWISH CAUSES: Swieca’s parents were Polish holocaust survivors who immigrated to New York in 1955, and the family’s history has shaped the Swiecas’ philanthropy. Through their family foundation, the couple has supported Jewish causes in the U.S. and Israel. Past grantees include the American Israel Education Foundation, the Central Fund of Israel, Ezrat Israel, the Jewish Resource Center, the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, and the Mercaz Chareidi Foundation, which supports the Mercaz Chareidi Institute of Technology in Israel.
EDUCATION: The Swieca’s education grantmaking has also prioritized Jewish causes. Grantees have included the Chabad of NYU, the Chabad of Stony Brook and the Frisch School, a coed Jewish high school in New Jersey.
LOOKING FORWARD: The Swiecas will likely to continue to support Jewish and and educational causes in the coming years.
CONTACT:
Swieca Family Foundation
950 3rd Ave., 23rd Fl.
New York City, NY 10022
