This month marks a great loss for the Briscoe Center and the entire University of Texas community with the death of Bernard Rapoport, the extraordinary philanthropist and businessman. It was one of the great honors of my life to work with him on his memoir, Being Rapoport: Capitalist with a Conscience, and it left me with nothing but deep admiration, respect, and affection for B. I learned that he was the real thing: a man who cared deeply about the human race and the world that we live in. He had a profound – you could even say a fierce – belief in the power of education to solve almost every problem that we face in this society. Those of us who were fortunate to have enjoyed his friendship and support, as well as those countless numbers of people who benefited from his and Audre’s humane and selfless generosity, will miss B Rapoport dearly.
We’re honored to have B’s papers in our archives, and we’ve recently started an important project to make his papers and memoir more accessible. The Bernard Rapoport Legacy Project will result in an enhanced e-book that will link an updated, digitized edition of the memoir with hundreds of historical documents and photographs. The three-year project is collaboration between the Briscoe Center and the University of Texas Libraries. I’d like to thank the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation for its generous support, as well as Bill Cunningham, who is the honorary chair for the project’s fundraising. We’re also moving forward with our fundraising for the renovation of Sid Richardson Hall. I encourage you to learn more about the project via the campaign’s webpage.
Don E. Carleton, Ph.D.
Executive Director
J. R. Parten Chair in the Archives of American History
