Susan & David Rockefeller, Jr.
2009 We Are Family Visionary Award Honorees
David Rockefeller, Jr.
David Rockefeller, Jr. is a Director and former Chairman of Rockefeller & Co. and has been an active participant in the non-profit arena, especially in the areas of the environment, arts and public education.
Mr. Rockefeller is a past Vice Chair of the National Park Foundation, reporting directly to the Secretary of the Interior. He served as a member of the Pew Oceans Commission that issued a comprehensive report on the health of U.S. marine waters in June 2003. His commitment to ensuring that our government and communities embrace and implement the recommendations of the Pew Commission and his passion for sailing led to the formation of Sailors for the Sea, a "new voice for ocean conservation." He is a founder and senior advisor of Around the Americas, a circumnavigation of the American continents by sail for the purpose of educating children and adults about the threats to ocean health.
He is an advisor to and former Vice Chair of the Alaska Conservation Foundation, and a founder of the Alaska Fund for the Future, an organization dedicated to preserving the Alaskan natural environment and its native cultures. He is an avid sailor and has raced and cruised for over forty years in waters from Labrador to the Caribbean, from San Diego to Alaska, and from Scotland and Sweden to Turkey and Italy.
Mr. Rockefeller is the former Chair of the North American Nominating Committee for the Praemium Imperiale, the Japanese prize for outstanding international achievement in the arts. He is a Trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, the Asian Cultural Council, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He chaired Arts, Education and Americans, which produced the book, Coming to Our Senses: The Significance of the Arts for American Education. He is a founding Trustee of The Cantata Singers in Boston and performed with them as a chorister for forty years.
Mr. Rockefeller is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation. His former foundation affiliations have included service as Trustee and Chairman of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, President of the Rockefeller Family Fund, and Trustee of the Boston Foundation.
A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Mr. Rockefeller is married to Susan Cohn Rockefeller, and together they have three daughters and a son.
Susan Cohn Rockefeller
Susan Cohn Rockefeller is a writer and filmmaker dedicated to educating and inspiring audiences with stories that show the passions and joys of the human experience. She has produced and directed The Baby Shower, Green Fire: Lives of Commitment and Passion in a Fragile World, as well as Richard Nelson's Alaska, which was part of an Emmy Award winning PBS series called Natural Heroes. She also produced and directed a feature documentary about ultra runners called Running Madness and a shorter version about this sport called Dirt. Her recent work includes Making the Crooked Straight (makingthecrookedstraight.org) to be aired on HBO march 2010 and A Sea Change (aseachange.net). She is currently completing a film about Nell Bryden's music tour of military bases in Iraq. Susan is the Chairwoman of Oceana's Ocean's Council, a board member of the Alaska Conservation Foundation, a member of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Global Leadership Council, on the Program Committee for The Stone Barns for Sustainable Agriculture, and an advisory board member of jimirock.com — a web site devoted to educating youth about ocean issues. When Susan isn't making films, she is active with her new business venture, Rocknrola, which creates message-inspired jewelry. More than anything, Susan loves spending time with her two children and two stepchildren, and exploring new cities and wild places with her husband. Susan graduated with a B.A. from Hampshire College and an M.A. from New York University.