John W. Rogers Jr. facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Rogers
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John Washington Rogers Jr.
March 31, 1958 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouses | Desirée Rogers (divorced) Sharon Fairley (divorced) |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Jewel Lafontant (mother) John W. Rogers Sr. (father) |
| Education | Princeton University (BA) |
John Washington Rogers Jr. was born on March 31, 1958. He is a well-known American investor. He started his own company, Ariel Capital Management, in 1983. This company is now called Ariel Investments, LLC.
John Rogers is the chairman and co-CEO of Ariel Investments. It is the largest mutual fund company in the United States run by a minority. He has also written articles for Forbes magazine for many years. John Rogers was involved in the 2008 presidential campaign for Barack Obama. He also helped lead the committee for Obama's inauguration in 2009.
In the 1990s, Rogers was the board president of the Chicago Park District for six years. He has also been a board member for several companies. He leads many groups connected to his college, Princeton University. He also helps with youth education in his hometown of Chicago. In 2007, Princeton University gave him the Woodrow Wilson Award. This award recognized his wide-ranging service to many organizations. While at Princeton, he was the captain of the 1979–80 Ivy League co-champion Princeton Tigers men's basketball team. Later in life, he even beat Michael Jordan in a one-on-one basketball game!
Contents
John Rogers' Early Life
His Family Background
John Rogers is the only son of Jewel Lafontant and John W. Rogers Sr.. His mother was the first African American woman to finish law school at the University of Chicago Law School in 1946. She became an important lawyer for the Republican Party. She even nominated Richard Nixon at the 1960 Republican National Convention.
His father was a Tuskegee Airman pilot. He flew over 100 combat missions during World War II. Later, he became a judge in Cook County for twenty years. John's parents divorced in 1961 when he was three years old. His mother passed away in 1997.
One of John Rogers' great-grandfathers owned the Stratford Hotel. This hotel was in Greenwood, Tulsa, Oklahoma, an area known as The Black Wall Street. The hotel was destroyed during the Tulsa race riot. Rogers helped pay for Before They Die!, a documentary film. This film shared stories from some people who survived the riot. John Rogers also appeared briefly in the film. Another one of his ancestors was Scipio Vaughan. He was a Yoruba royal who became an American slave. His family has had many important members over the years.
His School Days
John Rogers grew up in the Hyde Park area on Chicago's South Side. He graduated from the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in 1976. When he was 12, his father started giving him dividend-paying stocks. This taught him about investing early.
He went to college at Princeton University. While there, he spent time at a local stock brokerage office. He was also inspired by a book called A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel.
He played college basketball at Princeton. He was teammates with Craig Robinson. John was also the captain of the 1979–80 Ivy League co-champion Princeton Tigers men's basketball team. He often read business magazines and called his stock broker from stadium payphones. Rogers says his basketball coach, Pete Carril, was his biggest influence in college. Coach Carril taught him the importance of being precise and working as a team.
Rogers studied economics at Princeton. After graduating in 1980, he worked for William Blair & Company in Chicago. A few years later, with money from his family and friends, he started his own company. His first client was the Municipal Employees' Annuity & Benefit Fund of Chicago.
John Rogers' Career
Starting Ariel Capital Management
John Rogers is the person who started Ariel Capital Management. He began the company in July 1983 with $10,000. This money came from his friends and family. The Ariel fund became available to the public on November 6, 1986.
By November 2000, his company had 41 employees. In February 2002, it had 51 employees and more than 120 large clients. These clients included companies like United Airlines and ChevronTexaco. By April 2005, clients like Wal-Mart and PepsiCo had joined. As of 2008, the company had over 100 employees. In 2008, the company changed its name to Ariel Investments, LLC.
Rogers has also been on the boards of directors for other public companies in Chicago. These include Exelon and Bally Total Fitness Corporation. He was even the lead director at Bally Total Fitness.
For many years, Rogers has written articles for Forbes magazine. His articles, often called "The Patient Investor," give advice on personal finance.
Helping Others and Public Service
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On February 23, 2008, John Rogers became the first African-American to win a Woodrow Wilson Award from Princeton University. This award recognized his service to the Princeton community, the Chicago community, the African American community, and the financial world. In 1994, Time magazine named him one of its "50 leaders under 40."
Rogers is a co-chairman of Jesse Jackson's yearly Wall Street Project conference. He is also the chairman of the Chicago Urban League. He is a member of four company boards, including Fortune 500 companies like Aon Corporation, Exelon Corporation, McDonald's, and since 2018, Nike. He is a trustee for the University of Chicago. He has also served many groups focused on community, education, and arts. These include the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
At Princeton, he was a trustee of the university from 1990 to 1994. More recently, he has been a member of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni (ABPA) and the Princeton Varsity Club board of directors. He also served on the Alumni Schools Committee. In the early 1990s, Rogers helped lead fundraising for Project Vote. These efforts were led by former United States President Barack Obama. John Rogers has always supported having more diversity in top company jobs.
Rogers and his company helped support the Ariel Community Academy. This school teaches students about money and finance. He has helped create lessons and brings students to company board meetings. Because of his time and money, 80% of the eighth-grade students from the academy get into top high schools in the area. Rogers also "adopted" a class of 40 sixth graders. He spent $200,000 each year through the "I Have A Dream Foundation." He planned to pay for college for about 30 of these students.
He was part of the close group of people working on the Barack Obama presidential campaign. He has been a long-time friend of Obama. He was a co-chair of Obama's finance committee in Illinois. He has also raised a lot of money for Democratic Party candidates. He served on the Barack Obama 2009 presidential inauguration committee. In June 2009, Rogers became chairman of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools' board. He left the board in 2016.
Honors and Recognition
Since late 2011, the basketball court at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools has been named after John Rogers. Rogers graduated from and played basketball at this school. His name was put on the court during the winter break of the 2011–12 school year. The court's new name was officially celebrated on February 8, 2012. This happened during a home game against Northridge Prep.
John Rogers' Personal Life
John Rogers has a daughter named Victoria. Her mother is his former wife, Desirée Rogers.
On December 28, 2002, John Rogers married Sharon Fairley. At the time of their wedding announcement, Fairley was a director at a company called Pharmacia. Rogers and Fairley later divorced in February 2015.
In August 2003, John Rogers beat Michael Jordan in a one-on-one basketball game. This happened in Las Vegas at Michael Jordan's Senior Flight School. This camp cost $15,000 to attend. In 2008, The Wall Street Journal shared a video of Rogers, wearing glasses, driving past Jordan and scoring. Rogers won the game 3–2. This was after Jordan's last season with the Washington Wizards. After the game, actor Damon Wayans joked to Jordan, "How do you feel about getting humiliated by a man five years older?"
