Robert Addison Day
Robert Addison Day (December 11, 1943 – September 14, 2023) was an American financier, investor, and philanthropist who founded the Trust Company of the West (TCW Group) in 1971 and later served as chairman and CEO of the W.M. Keck Foundation.[1][2]
Born in Los Angeles to Robert A. Day and Willametta Keck Day, the granddaughter of oil magnate William Myron Keck, Day graduated from Claremont McKenna College in 1965 with a degree in economics and went on to build TCW into a major asset management firm, selling a majority stake in 2001 while retaining significant influence.[3][1] Under his leadership, TCW grew substantially before the transaction valued the firm at approximately $2.5 billion.[4]
Day's philanthropy, channeled primarily through the Keck Foundation—which he guided to focus on medical research, science, and engineering—supported institutions like Claremont McKenna College, where he was the longest-serving trustee for 53 years and donated $200 million to establish the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance in 2007, the largest single gift to the college at the time.[3][1] He also contributed to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Southern California, reflecting a commitment to advancing scientific discovery and education.[4][2] Additionally, Day owned extensive timberland holdings and maintained a low-profile approach to his investments and giving.[5]
Early Life and Family Background
Birth and Ancestry
Robert Addison Day was born in 1943 in Los Angeles, California, to Robert Addison Day (1915–1984) and Willametta Keck Day.[3][6] His mother was the daughter of William Myron Keck, an oil entrepreneur who founded Superior Oil Company in 1921 and built a substantial fortune through independent exploration and production in California and beyond.[7][3] The Keck family's wealth, derived from Superior Oil's success, formed the basis of significant inherited capital that provided Day with financial security and the capacity for entrepreneurial risk in subsequent pursuits.[2][7] This inheritance contrasted with the self-made origins of Keck himself, who had limited formal education but leveraged practical acumen in the oil industry.[3] Day's father, a director of Superior Oil Company, later held public roles including president of the Los Angeles Fire and Harbor Commissions, offering early familial immersion in corporate governance and investment oversight.[8] Such proximity to operational business environments contributed to foundational understandings of enterprise management, independent of formal training.[8]Education
Day enrolled at Claremont Men's College—now known as Claremont McKenna College—in 1960 after attending the Robert Louis Stevenson School in Pebble Beach.[3] He pursued coursework across multiple disciplines, including economics, international relations, and history, reflecting a broad intellectual curiosity during his five years on campus.[9] Day majored in economics and completed his studies with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965, receiving his diploma from President George C. S. Benson.[10] As a student, he participated in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), gaining early exposure to structured leadership and discipline.[11] His senior thesis examined the process of establishing an asset management firm, foreshadowing the practical financial acumen he would apply post-graduation.[8] This curriculum emphasized analytical rigor in economic theory and markets, equipping him with tools for evaluating investment opportunities amid an academic environment often oriented toward macroeconomic policy frameworks.[1]Business Career
Founding and Leadership of TCW Group
In 1971, Robert Addison Day founded the Trust Company of the West (TCW), an asset management firm headquartered in Los Angeles, California, initially managing $2 million in assets with a focus on wealth management for high-net-worth individuals.[3][12][13] Day served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, leading TCW's expansion from a small boutique serving wealthy clients into a major player in institutional asset management.[14] Under his direction, the firm developed a broad investment approach encompassing stocks, bonds, real estate, and other assets, attracting clients including corporations like Boeing and Xerox, as well as public and private pension funds, foundations, and endowments.[7][1] During Day's tenure, TCW's assets under management expanded substantially, reflecting the firm's growth into one of the world's leading global asset managers and achieving records in profitability and performance in the years leading up to the early 2000s.[15][16] This success was rooted in a tradition of investment excellence that Day instilled in the organization.[17]Expansion, Sale, and Business Disputes
Under Day's leadership, TCW Group expanded into a leading independent investment management firm, growing its assets under management to approximately $80 billion by the early 2000s through diversified strategies in fixed income, equities, and alternative investments.[18][14] In April 2001, Société Générale announced its acquisition of a 70% controlling interest in TCW over five years, beginning with a 51% stake in exchange for $880 million in the French bank's stock, positioning TCW for global expansion while allowing Day to retain operational control and an eight-year employment contract.[14][19][20] Day joined Société Générale's board and continued influencing TCW's direction, but relations strained amid post-acquisition integration challenges.[20][21] In 2007, Day sold Société Générale shares valued at around €148 million; French regulator Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) later investigated potential insider trading ties to the bank's undisclosed trading losses revealed in January 2008, but cleared Day of wrongdoing in June 2010, finding no evidence of privileged information use.[22][23][24] Tensions escalated in late 2009 when TCW terminated Jeffrey Gundlach, its chief investment officer and star fixed-income manager overseeing $110 billion in assets, citing evidence of employee solicitation, trade secret misappropriation, and plans to depart with key personnel.[25][26] The firing triggered a contentious lawsuit, with TCW alleging Gundlach's actions threatened firm stability; a December 2011 jury verdict held Gundlach and associates liable for breaching fiduciary duties and trade secret violations, awarding TCW $67 million in damages, though much of TCW's fixed-income business shifted to Gundlach's new firm, DoubleLine Capital.[27][28] This episode exposed internal governance frictions under Société Générale's ownership, including compensation disputes and leadership clashes, contributing to talent exodus and asset outflows exceeding $20 billion.[29][30]Other Ventures and Board Roles
In addition to his leadership at TCW Group, Day founded Oakmont Corporation in 1980 as a family-owned investment firm headquartered in Los Angeles, serving as its chairman and chief executive officer.[4] Oakmont operated as a family office managing private investments, with discretionary assets under management exceeding $2 billion across a diversified portfolio that included equities and other strategies, co-managed in later years with executives like Andrew Katz.[31] This entity exemplified Day's approach to direct capital allocation in non-public markets, distinct from TCW's institutional focus.[32] Day held several external directorships that applied his investment acumen to corporate governance. He served as a non-executive director on the board of Société Générale, the French multinational bank, where his role involved oversight of global operations until controversies arose in 2008 over his pre-disclosure share sales totaling approximately €40 million amid the bank's trading losses.[33] Separately, Day was a director at Freeport-McMoRan Inc., a major mining company, contributing to board deliberations on strategic alternatives for its oil and gas segment during a 2015 review.[34] He also sat on the board of Syntroleum Corporation, a synthetic fuels developer, retiring from the position in September 2006.[35] These roles underscored Day's versatility in advising on asset deployment across energy, banking, and commodities sectors.Philanthropic Leadership and Contributions
Role at W.M. Keck Foundation
Robert A. Day served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the W.M. Keck Foundation from 1996 until his death in 2023, having joined the board in 1968.[2][36] The foundation, established in 1954 by Day's grandfather, William Myron Keck, initially focused on supporting scientific discovery and Southern California community needs, with Day steering it toward efficient grant-making in high-impact areas.[36] Under his stewardship, the foundation's assets expanded from approximately $1 billion to $1.5 billion, enabling the distribution of over $2 billion in grants by 2023.[1][7] Day prioritized funding for high-risk, high-reward research in physical sciences, biological sciences, and medical research, emphasizing projects unlikely to attract conventional funding but capable of transformative outcomes.[36] This strategy supported advancements in astronomy through ongoing contributions to the W.M. Keck Observatory, which facilitated breakthroughs such as exoplanet discoveries and cosmic structure mapping. In biology and medical fields, grants backed innovative studies, including neurogenetics initiatives and cellular mechanics research, yielding empirical progress in understanding disease mechanisms and instrumentation development.[37][38] To ensure grant efficacy, Day implemented stringent vetting that favored verifiable scientific potential over diffuse social priorities, avoiding allocations to less rigorous or trend-driven causes.[39] This focus aligned with the foundation's mission of pioneering benefits to humanity, resulting in targeted investments like the establishment of the Keck Institute for Space Studies in 2008, which fostered interdisciplinary engineering and scientific collaboration.[40] Annual distributions under his leadership averaged tens of millions, with 2022 grants totaling $68 million across science, engineering, and medical domains.[41]