David Paresky is a retired American businessman, who formerly worked in the travel service sector. He is also a well-known

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

Early life

Paresky was born in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in 1938. He grew up in

Burlington, Vermont Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the List of municipalities in Vermont, most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the county seat, seat of Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County. It is located south of the Can ...

. Paresky attended

Phillips Academy Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...

on a scholarship before attending

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

, also as a scholarship student. He graduated from Williams in 1960 and went on to receive his J.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1963 and then his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from Harvard in 1965.

Career

Paresky began his tenure in travel services at Phillips Academy, where he organized spring break trips to

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

for students. Later, Paresky turned this interest into a profitable career. After graduation from Harvard, Paresky began Crimson Travel, a successful company that became the largest travel company in the New England region. Crimson Travel merged with Heritage Travel and then with Thomas Cook Travel, becoming ultimately one of the largest travel companies in the United States. Thomas Cook Travel was founded by

Thomas Cook Thomas Cook (22 November 1808 – 18 July 1892) was the founder of the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son. He was born into a poor family in Derbyshire and left school at the age of ten to start work as a gardener's boy. He served an appren ...

in 1841 in England and survived over the years before moving operations to the United States. American Express purchased Thomas Cook's travel offices in the United States in 1994, which were owned by Paresky and his wife.

Philanthropy

Paresky has donated significant portions of money to both Phillips Academy and Williams College in order to build new student facilities. At Williams, the student center built in 2006 is named Paresky Center in his name after he donated $15.75 million to the school. At Phillips Academy, Paresky's $10 million donation was used to renovate its main dining hall, renamed Paresky Commons in 2008.

Personal life

Paresky currently lives in

Fisher Island, Florida Fisher Island is a census-designated place in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, located on a barrier island of the same name. Since 2015, Fisher Island has had the highest per capita income of any place in the United States. It is locat ...

with his wife Linda. He received

's Bicentennial Medal in 2012. Paresky was one of the investors exploited by

Bernie Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American financial criminal and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest known Ponzi scheme in history, worth an estimated $65 billion. He was at one time ...

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...

, which came to light in 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paresky, David 1938 births Williams College alumni Harvard Law School alumni American philanthropists Living people Harvard Business School alumni Businesspeople from Boston People from Burlington, Vermont Phillips Academy alumni