Richard Baker Jennings

Richard Baker Jennings, 72, of New York City and Quogue, NY, died peacefully on February 28. He was the loving husband of Nancy Steeger Jennings for 46 years, father of Anne Jennings Staebler, Sally Jennings and Victoria Jennings Diamond; father-in-law of Ned Staebler and Robert Diamond; grandfather of Teddy and Jacob Staebler, Charlotte and Eleanor Diamond; brother of Ellen Jennings Giusti and John Baker Jennings.

Rich was born on November 26, 1943, fifteen minutes behind his twin brother John, and grew up in New York City. He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University, where he was awarded the Corning Glass Works Traveling Fellowship. He received his MBA degree from Harvard Business School. From 1969 to 1986, he oversaw the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) investment banking business at Goldman, Sachs & Co. During his tenure at Goldman, Sachs & Co. he also founded and managed the Mortgage Finance Group. From 1986 to 1989, he was Managing Director — Real Estate Finance at Drexel Burnham Lambert, Inc. Rich founded Realty Capital International LLC, an investment banking firm in 1991. He served as the Lead Director for Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.; on the board of directors of National Retail Properties, Inc.; European Investors’ International Property Fund; Terra Capital Partners and The Stillwater Insurance Group; and as a trustee of the National Foundation for Facial Reconstruction at NYU Medical Center.

A celebration of his life will be held at 4pm on Thursday, March 10, 2016 at The River Club, 447 East 52nd Street. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Rich’s memory (Office of Development, 633 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, Attn: Lauren Kelly).

Published in The New York Times on Mar. 3, 2016

Remembrances

Karl Schonborn writes:  Yet another shock. This year has been devastating for the Class of ’65. My son visited Rich last year in NYC. He really liked him and his current business enterprise. My son does work similar to Rich. Along with still-living twin John, Rich was a gentle and brilliant giant.

My deepest condolences to Rich’s family (especially John) and all his friends.