Bernard Gerald Cantor Founder and Chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald and philanthropist Date of Birth: 17.12.1916 Country: USA

1. Early Life and Education
2. Founding Cantor Fitzgerald
3. Howard Lutnick and Retirement
4. Marriage and Arts Patronage
5. Brooklyn Museum Exhibition
6. Continued Exhibitions and Philanthropy
7. Board and Honorary Positions
8. National Medal of Arts and Legacy

Early Life and Education

Bernard Gerald Cantor was born on December 17, 1916, in the Bronx, New York City, to Jewish immigrants Rose Delson and Julius Cantor from Belarus. His mother described him as an inquisitive boy with a destructive approach to learning, enjoying disassembling and breaking toys.

At the age of 15, Cantor began selling peanuts at Yankee Stadium. Demonstrating his business acumen, he worked only on Sundays when the same teams played a doubleheader, claiming that the break between games presented a higher opportunity for sales. After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School, he studied finance and law at New York University from 1935 to 1937. Armed with his degree, Cantor became a Wall Street security analyst.

Founding Cantor Fitzgerald

After serving in the Army in the South Pacific during World War II, Bernard founded his own firm, B.G. Cantor and Company, later renamed Cantor Fitzgerald. The firm, a partnership based in New York City, became one of the largest institutional brokers of U.S. government securities. In 1965, it began trading large blocks of stocks for institutional clients. By 1972, Cantor's company had established the world's first electronic marketplace for trading U.S. government securities. In 1983, Cantor Fitzgerald pioneered the introduction of electronic trading systems for broker-dealers worldwide.

Howard Lutnick and Retirement

In 1991, Howard Lutnick became President and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald. Cantor retired in 1995, citing declining health. During this time, he was also a founder of the Kansas City Kings of the National Basketball Association.

Marriage and Arts Patronage

Bernard married Iris Bazel, a former model and stockbroker, in 1977. Having joined Cantor Fitzgerald around 1967 as an executive secretary, Bazel had been in a two-year relationship with Cantor when they wed. After nearly two decades together, Bernard passed away in 1996.

The couple became influential art patrons in New York City after their marriage. They established the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation and amassed one of the largest private collections of works by French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Part of their collection was exhibited in a private museum adjacent to Cantor's offices in the World Trade Center from 1981 to 1984.

The Cantors generously donated pieces from their collection to cultural institutions worldwide, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University.

Brooklyn Museum Exhibition

Between 1984 and 1987, the Cantors donated 58 Rodin works and funds for their installation in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Gallery at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. They also supported numerous exhibitions and events at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including the popular Roof Garden and the Sculpture Garden. According to the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, their private collection comprised 300 Rodin works, while their foundation and efforts resulted in the donation of approximately 450 Rodin works to 70 different art institutions.

Continued Exhibitions and Philanthropy

The foundation continues to fund exhibitions. In 1997, the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey, presented a selection from the Cantor and Bazel collection in "Focus on Rodin." In 1998, "Rodin at Rockefeller Center" was held at the Rockefeller Center.

The foundation also organized a traveling show, "Rodin: A Magnificent Obsession," which featured Rodin works at institutions such as Louisiana State University, the Albany Institute of History & Art, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Board and Honorary Positions

Bernard served as a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1985 to 1990. He remained an honorary trustee and a member of the Visiting Committee for European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the museum. Cantor was also a trustee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 1972 to 1985, later becoming an honorary trustee.

When the newly remodeled Oval Office was unveiled at the White House in 1993, President Clinton had personally selected The Thinker, a bronze sculpture, from the Cantors' collection to be displayed. Additionally, the Cantors funded the installation of the Sculpture Garden at the White House in 1994.

National Medal of Arts and Legacy

In 1995, Iris and Bernard were awarded the National Medal of Arts. Cantor died on July 17, 1996, after a prolonged illness.

His wife increased her philanthropy in the medical field, funding the construction of 11 labor and delivery rooms, two operating rooms, and reception areas at New York Presbyterian Hospital. In 2002, Iris donated $5 million to the Women's Health Center named in her honor, and $20 million in 2010 for the Men's Health Center, Outpatient Surgery Center, and Immunopathology Laboratory.