Mitchell and Emily Rales
/SOURCE OF WEALTH: Danaher Corporation, Private Equity Group Holdings; investor & industrialist
FUNDING AREAS: Medical Research, Arts & Culture, Education & Youth, Washington, D.C., Community, Maine Community
OVERVIEW: Mitchell Rales and family move their philanthropy through the Mitchell P. Rales Family Foundation, which according to recent ta filings, gave away around $7.6 million in 2017. Mitchell and Emily are major art collectors and founded Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Maryland. They are Giving Pledge signatories.
BACKGROUND: Mitchell P. Rales graduated from Miami University of Ohio. Mitchell and his brother Steven acquired a real estate investment trust in 1983 and merged it into the firm Danaher Corporation. Rales is also the co-founder of Equity Group Holdings, LLC. In 2016, Danaher spun off its industrial technologies, measurement and petroleum businesses into Fortive Corporation.
ISSUES:
MEDICAL RESEARCH: The Rales family have steadily supported Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The Johns Hopkins Children's Center is home to the Ruth and Norman Rales Center for the Integration of Health and Education, named for Rales' parents.
ARTS & CULTURE: Rales began collecting contemporary art in the 1980s. Last decade, Rales and his wife Emily Wei Rales founded Glenstone, a private museum in Maryland. The Glenstone collection "comprises paintings, sculptures, works on paper, photographs, installations, and multimedia works by artists who have come to international prominence since World War II." The Rales foundation has supported National Gallery of Art, The Frick Collection, and the Guggenheim Museum. Mitchell and Emily have been named ArtNews' top 200 art collectors throughout the decade.
EDUCATION & YOUTH: Rales strongly supports his alma mater Miami University. Other grantees have included University of Maryland, The Seed Foundation, College of the Atlantic, and University of Virginia.
COMMUNITY: Family support has gone to organizations in the Washington, D.C., area as well as Maine, where the couple also resides. Rales' parents were active Jewish philanthropists and established the Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service. Mitchell and family have supported Hebrew Home of Greater Washington, United States Holocaust Museum, and Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington. Other grantees have included Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Mount Desert Fire & Rescue Association, and Goodwill of Greater Washington.
LOOKING FORWARD: Rales is only in his early 60s and very much engaged in business. Perhaps more money will move through the foundation in the coming years. The couple's strong interest in art should be watched as well.
CONTACT:
The Mitchell P. Rales Family Foundation does not provide a clear avenue of contact but below is an address:
Mitchell P. Rales Family Foundation
117890 Glen Road
Potomac, MD 20854
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