Richard "Rip" Rapson (born March 16, 1952) is an American attorney and philanthropist serving as CEO of the Kresge Foundation. He began his career as a congressional aide to Donald M. Fraser during Fraser's last two terms in the United States House of Representatives. After attending Columbia Law School, Rapson joined the law firm of Leonard, Street & Deinard to practice law while also serving on the board of several organizations. In 1989, Fraser, who had become mayor of Minneapolis, appointed Rapson as his deputy mayor and, in 1993, Rapson unsuccessfully ran for mayor to succeed Fraser.
After leaving the Minneapolis City Hall, Rapson became a fellow at the University of Minnesota and then was appointed president of the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis. In 2006, he moved to the Detroit area to become CEO of the Kresge Foundation. He has led the foundation in a number of philanthropic endeavors to revitalize and rescue Detroit from bankruptcy.
Early life and education
Richard "Rip" Rapson[1] was born on March 16, 1952,[2] in Bonn, Germany,[3] to Mary and Ralph Rapson.[2] In 1954, the family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Ralph became head of the University of Minnesota School of Architecture[4] and a prolific architect in the city.[5] Mary said that their son was nicknamed Rip because he was "kicking and moving" even in the womb.[6] He has a younger brother, Thomas ("Toby"), who also became an architect at their father's architectural firm.[5][6]
At Marshall-University High School, Rip Rapson was a baseball pitcher, played basketball, tennis and learned to play the trumpet.[6] He chose to attend Pomona College in California which he believed had a good tennis team.[6] In 1974, he graduated magna cum laude from Pomona with a bachelor of arts degree in political science.[7]
Rapson then graduated from Columbia Law School with a J.D.[6][10] and joined the law firm of Leonard, Street & Deinard. He became a partner at the firm[6][11] and remained there from 1981 to 1988.[12] He also served on the Library Board, the Board of Estimates and Taxation, and the boards of 13 other organizations in the city during that period.[6]
On March 14, 1989, Fraser, who had become mayor of Minneapolis, appointed Rapson as his deputy mayor, effective April 15, 1989, to succeed Jan Hively. As deputy mayor, Rapson was in charge of liaisoning with the Minneapolis City Council.[8] He was also responsible for the creation of a $400 million Neighborhood Revitalization Program and chaired its implementation committee.[9][13]
After his unsuccessful bid for mayor of Minneapolis, Rapson accepted a senior fellowship at the University of Minnesota.[11] He then served for six years as president of the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis.[16]
In 2006, Rapson was appointed CEO of the Kresge Foundation, a foundation based in Troy, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.[10] He was responsible for a number of large grant programs made by the foundation including a $100-million grant to bring financial stability to the Detroit Institute of Arts whose art collection was owned by the city when it went bankrupt in 2013 and was being considered for sale to cover the city's debt.[10][17] Together with Gerald Rosen, a U.S. district court chief judge, and Darren Walker of the Ford Foundation which chipped in another $125 million,[18] Rapson helped organize a "grand bargain" as proposed by Judge Rosen,[10][19] with other contributions from a number of foundations and the state of Michigan, to keep the art collection from being liquidated and help preserve pensions for city retirees, whose retirement funds were also at risk.[10][17]
Rapson at the May 2017 opening of the QLine streetcar in Detroit, Michigan
Under his leadership, the foundation contributed $150 million to the implementation of the Detroit Future City plan to revitalize the city[1][20] and also spurred the development of the QLine streetcar project in downtown Detroit.[18][21] Rapson is a founding member on the board of directors of M-1 Rail, a non-profit organization which built, owns, and operates the QLine.[1][22][23] He also serves on the Detroit board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.[24] As CEO of the Kresge Foundation, as of 2017, Rapson manages the organization's $3.8 billion in assets and 105 full-time employees.[25]
Personal life
Rapson married Gail Johnson in August 1989.[3] They have two children.[2]
