Gene and Tracy Sykes

SOURCE OF WEALTH: Goldman Sachs

FUNDING AREAS: Education & Youth, Arts & Culture, Health, Environment, Policy

OVERVIEW: Gene and Tracy Sykes move their philanthropy through the Sykes Family Foundation. According to available tax filings, the foundation awarded just over $1 million in grants between 2017 and 2018. Areas of giving interest include the Sykeses’ alma maters and organizations serving the greater Los Angeles area.

BACKGROUND: Gene Sykes earned a bachelor's degree in government from Harvard in 1980 and an MBA from Stanford in 1984. He joined Goldman Sachs after graduating and worked mainly in mergers and acquisitions. In 1987, he relocated to the firm’s Los Angeles office. Tracy Moritz Sykes graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University and earned a doctorate in physical therapy from the University of Southern California.

ISSUES:

EDUCATION & YOUTH: The Sykeses have supported their alma maters and the schools that their children have attended. Gene is a member of the board of trustees at Stanford, and Tracy serves on the board at the University of Southern California, where the couple has also endowed the Sykes Family Chair in Pediatric Physical Therapy. Other past grantees include St. Matthews Parish School, which all four of the Sykes children have attended; the Kent School; and Students Matter, a California-based organization that advocates for increased access to quality public education.

ARTS & CULTURE: The Sykes Family Foundation has invested the arts broadly. Grantees have included the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, New York City’s Metropolitan Museum, the San Francisco Symphony and the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Sykes served as the CEO of LA 2024, Los Angeles’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

HEALTH:  The Sykeses’ giving in the area of health has prioritized children and cancer care. Past grantees include Las Madrinas Pediatric Simulation Research Laboratory, the Tiny Miracles Foundation, and the Jimmy Fund, which supports the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

ENVIRONMENT: Gene Sykes has served as chair of both the California chapter of the Nature Conservancy and the National Parks Conservation Association.

POLICY: The Sykes Family Foundation has supported the Pacific Council on International Policy and National Council of the American Enterprise Institute.

LOOKING FORWARD: Gene and Tracy Sykes will likely continue to support the schools that they and their children have attended. Their geographic focus seems to be the greater Los Angeles Area.

CONTACT:

The Skyes Family Foundation does not provide a clear avenue of contact but below is an address:

Sykes Family Foundation
P.O. Box 331
Plainview, NY 11803