David T. Schiff

Following military service and a few years of financial training, David Schiff embarked on his business career as an investment banker armed with a degree from Yale University in Mechanical Engineering. David’s energy has increasingly been devoted to private equity and venture capital investments.

David has been involved with many eleemosynary institutions. He previously served as the Chair of the Board of Beekman Downtown Hospital, and has been a Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for over 40 years. Drawn by his lifelong passion for science, nature, and wildlife, David was elected a Trustee of the Wildlife Conservation Society (formerly the New York Zoological Society) in 1965, served as its Chairman for 11 years, and currently is a Life Trustee and Chairman Emeritus. David also served as an advisory board member of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and as a board member of the Yale Art Gallery.

With the demands of an ever growing and consuming human population encroaching on wildlife and wild lands, David has focused on working with others to seek viable and sustainable responses to saving natural habitats. This has guided his attention to the interrelatedness of the welfare of flora, fauna, and humans with a particular concern for water use conflicts, and airborne viral diseases, among others.