Philanthropist and Democratic patron Rapoport dies
Bernard Rapoport, a longtime patron of Texas Democratic politics and philanthropist, has died in Waco. He was 94.
Rapoport's death was confirmed by Bill Nesbitt, a family friend and a director of the Bernard & Audre Rapoport Foundation. Rapoport had been hospitalized on Wednesday and died late Thursday night, Nesbitt said.
Rapoport built his fortune after founding the American Income Life Insurance Co. in 1951 in Waco. He served as the company's chairman and chief executive officers until the early 1990s.
Rapoport was a major donor to Democratic campaigns and helped found The Texas Observer, a monthly progressive news magazine, in 1954. He also was on the University of Texas System board of regents from 1991 to 1997.
http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/philanthropist-and-democratic-patron-rapoport-dies-2287281.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
He was always a staunch supporter of The Texas Observer.
He lived a long, good life. May Bernie Rapoport rest in peace. Hopefully he and Molly are getting reacquainted about now.
Bernard Rapoport, 1917 - 2012
A Life Examined
I CAME TO KNOW BERNARD RAPOPORT when he was chair of the University of Texas System Board of Regents, and I was editor of this publication in the early 1990s. One of our writers was reporting on a story about conflicts of interest within the UT administration. When the university president ignored our requests for what we believed was public information, we did what reporters do. We sent a Texas Public Information Act request letter to each member of the Board of Regents—including board Chair Bernard Rapoport.
B—who passed away late Thursday night in Waco—had been the Observer’s most generous and dependable financial supporter since the 1960s. The University of Texas Board of Regents was the only political appointment he’d ever wanted, and he went at it with the enthusiasm, intelligence and energy he had devoted to American Income Life — the insurance company he and his wife Audre started with a $25,000 investment in 1951.
Without even a phone call to warn him, we had sent B and each of his colleagues on the Board of Regents registered letters, which state law compelled them to answer.
His response was immediate.
On the day he received his letter, he called the publisher’s office.
“Who the hell is running the show down there?” he asked.
