Rubenstein to Leave Kennedy Center, Possibly Buy Orioles
By • February 1, 2024 0 887
After 14 years at The Kennedy Center, Chair of the center’s Board, David Rubenstein is ready to play ball — with the Baltimore Orioles that is. The Angelos family, current majority owners of the Orioles, have agreed to sell a controlling stake in the club to Rubinstein for $1.7 billion. Rubenstein, a co-founder of the Carlyle Group, is a Baltimore native himself. The Angelos family will keep a large investment in the Major League Baseball team, and John Angelos will serve as senior advisor.
Cal Ripken, Jr., the famed shortstop and third baseman who played solely for the Orioles, said via his social media platform X account (@CalRipkenJr): “I am excited to once again be a part of the @Orioles organization and I thank @DM_Rubenstein for including me in the ownership group. The Orioles have been a part of my life since I was a child, and this is a special day. I look forward to this opportunity and will do whatever I can to help the organization. Let’s go O’s!”
Rubenstein will be retiring as chairman of The Kennedy Center and plans to stay on for one year while a search for his successor takes place. Rubenstein is The Kennedy Center’s sixth chair and served longer than any others. Rubenstein was chair during The Kennedy Center’s REACH expansion, a quarter-million-dollar project finished in 2019.
The retirement announcement is not the true end of Rubenstein’s connections to the longstanding arts organization. He is chairman of The Kennedy Center Foundation with a goal to raise hundreds of millions.
Rubenstein attended Duke University for political science before heading to the University of Chicago for law school. He started at a New York law firm prior to working for former President Jimmy Carter as a domestic policy advisor before he turned 30. Rubenstein was dubbed “the White House workaholic” by Newsweek, as he was always the last to leave his offices.
The Orioles transaction is subject to review, approval and a vote by the MLB ownership committee.
