Charlie Zegar (born 1948) is an American businessman and computer programmer known for being one of the four co-founders of

Bloomberg L.P. Bloomberg L.P. is an American privately-held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, Charles Ze ...

Early life and education

Zegar was born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, the son of Lillian, a musical comedy performer and opera singer, and Henry Zegar, a subway conductor for the

New York City Transit Authority The New York City Transit Authority (also known as NYCTA, the TA, or simply Transit, and branded as MTA New York City Transit) is a New York state public-benefit corporations, public-benefit corporation in the U.S. state of New York (state), New ...

.New York Times: "WEDDINGS; Merryl Snow, Charles Zegar"
June 24, 2001 He earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

and Science from

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university in Brooklyn and Brookville, New York, United States. The university enrolls over 16,000 students and offers over 500 academic programs at its main campuses, LIU Brooklyn and LIU Post on Long I ...

and a master's degree in computer science from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Career

Zegar is one of the four founding partners of Innovative Market Systems (later renamed

), which was established in 1982. The other founders were

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

, Tom Secunda, and Duncan MacMillan. Zegar met

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...

while both were working at

Salomon Brothers Salomon Brothers, Inc., was an American multinational bulge bracket investment bank headquartered in New York City. It was one of the five List of investment banks, largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and a very profitabl ...

. Zegar initially led Bloomberg's software development efforts. In 2020, he was ranked No. 353 in the

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

400 list of the richest people in America.

Philanthropy

Zegar is a signatory of

The Giving Pledge The Giving Pledge is a charitable campaign, founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, to encourage wealthy people to contribute a majority (i.e. more than 50%) of their wealth to philanthropic causes. , the pledge has had 236 signatories from 28 ...

. He also established the Zegar Family Foundation. Zegar is on the board of trustees for

New York University Board of Trustees
retrieved March 30, 2013

Personal life

Zegar has been married twice. He is widowed from his first wife. He remarried in 2001 to administrative judge, Merryl Snow. The service was officiated by Rabbi Joel Goor and took place at the Essex House in Manhattan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zegar, Charles 1948 births 21st-century American philanthropists American billionaires Bloomberg L.P. founders Businesspeople from New York City Living people Long Island University alumni New York University alumni Philanthropists from New York (state) 21st-century American Jews