Jerry Rappaport’s lifelong body of work as a political activist, real estate developer and philanthropist is a testament to his fierce insistence on the betterment of Boston and the Commonwealth.

It’s an unyielding vision, one that has spanned nine decades since he founded the Harvard University Law School Forum in 1946, in an effort to keep fellow students from losing touch with current affairs. In the time since, Mr. Rappaport has reshaped political movements and skylines on his way to becoming one of the most influential figures in the city’s storied history.

His role in John Hynes’ improbable and successful 1949 mayoral campaign, his creation of the New Boston Committee, his development of the Charles River Park as part of the West End Project, his founding of the New Boston Fund and his legendary philanthropic efforts are part of a resume that is almost unfathomable in its scope and longevity. The Harvard Law School Forum today is as healthy as it was those 50-plus years ago, as is the Rappaport momentum that has been building for the better part of a century.

That momentum is positioned to only grow through the like-minded passions fostered and fueled by the Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation. With a stated goal of catalyzing new generations of collaborative leaders in the fields of public policy, medicine and the arts, the Foundation – and the many hundreds who have and will benefit from it – are poised to fulfill the Rappaport promise for generations.

Phyllis Rappaport has been Chair of the Rappaport Foundation since its founding in 1997. Working alongside her visionary husband, Jerry, Phyllis has been a critical driver behind the Foundation’s lasting impact on public policy, medical research, and contemporary art.

Phyllis played a pivotal role in turning Jerry’s dream of launching a first-of-its-kind fellowship program for talented graduate students interested in working in state and local government into a reality. Together, they established the Rappaport Institute at Harvard Kennedy School and the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy, first at Suffolk University Law School and then at Boston College Law School. Since their inception, these programs have catalyzed the careers of hundreds of civic and state leaders while inspiring the creation of similar programs across the county.

Early advocates of venture philanthropy funding, Jerry and Phyllis have a long legacy of providing unrestricted research grants to young scientists at MassGeneral, the Brigham, and McLean Hospital, and in neuroscience, psychiatry, and neuroimaging. Their grants offer a springboard for promising investigators to apply for government funding, get published, and take their research to the next level while improving the lives and well-being of countless individuals.

Frustrated with the slow pace of Alzheimer’s research, Phyllis, with co-founders Jeff and Jacqui Morby and Henry McCance, applied their experience in venture capital to build an organization specifically designed to accelerate research, make bold bets, and eradicate the disease. Today, the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund’s unwavering focus on finding a cure has provided grants to more than 750 leading researchers and contributed more than $210 million to Alzheimer’s research.

Avid collectors of modern art, Phyllis and Jerry launched the Rappaport Art Prize at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. The museum provides a $50K unrestricted grant to a promising artist with New England ties each year. The largest gift of its kind, the prize has been awarded to such notable artists as Titus Kaphar, Barkley Hendricks, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Kathryn Bradford, and Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons.

Phyllis was one of the first female auditors at Pricewaterhouse Cooper. She led departments in finance and management training at Digital Equipment Corporation. She was director of her family’s private real estate investment company. She serves on Advisory Boards for MassGeneral and McLean Hospitals and Harvard Kennedy School. She was a longtime trustee of deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.

Jim is a real estate developer, entrepreneur, consultant, attorney and political activist who has served as Executive Chairman of New Boston Fund, Inc., a private equity real estate investment firm.

Jim is currently partnering in several 55-plus residential communities in central Florida, which will provide up to 8,000 homes over the next 10 years. He serves as Vice Chair of Fintiv, Inc., with patents controlling significant intellectual property in the fintech area, along with payment processing and cloud payment and mobile wallet specialties. In addition, Jim does consulting with the goal of helping family businesses become more functional and set better boundaries, roles, responsibilities and accountabilities within the family business and office structure.

Jim has also been active in state and national politics, serving as Massachusetts Republican State Chairman from 1992 to 1997 and as a member of the Republican National Committee. He ran for U.S. Senate in 1990 and lieutenant governor in 2002.

Jonathan Rapaport has served on the Board since December 2007. He graduated Vassar College in 1993, where he majored in Russian Studies and Education. After college, Jonathan lived in Russia, Texas and Manhattan before resettling in the Boston suburbs.

Jonathan has worked on various entrepreneurial endeavors. He is currently the president of Thanks For Everything, an e-commerce platform specializing in custom thank you notes. In his spare time he enjoys rock climbing and blogging.

James Rappaport holds a BA in Political Science from American University and received his MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. He has devoted his career to improving the effectiveness of his clients, focusing his efforts on talent development, coaching and learning, and organizational health.

James is currently an Expert with McKinsey & Company and, after a 15-year detour in the DC area, lives in Lexington, Mass.

Diego Arambula is vice president for educational transformation at the Carnegie Foundation. As vice president, Diego leads ambitious, actionable strategies and builds partnerships with educators, policy makers, parents, employers and community based organizations to advance Carnegie’s mission.

Diego joins the Foundation with more than 15 years of education experience. Most recently, Diego served as a managing partner with Transcend. There, he worked with teachers, principals and superintendents across the country to explore how to best reimagine learning environments to prepare all children to thrive. Additionally, he served as the founder and executive director of GO Public Schools Fresno, an education advocacy nonprofit focused on unlocking demand for radically re-envisioned school models. Diego began his career in education at Summit Public Schools, a leading network of charter public schools headquartered in Redwood City, California. While there, he served as classroom teacher, a founding principal, and the chief growth and innovation officer.

Diego also exercises his passion for transformational change in education through his positions on multiple boards. In 2020, he was appointed to an 8-year term as trustee for the California State University System, the largest and most diverse postsecondary system in the nation. At CSU, he serves as chair of the Education Policy Committee. He also serves as board chair of Summit Public Schools and the Central Valley Community Foundation. He received his bachelor’s (A.B.) in government from Harvard University and a master’s in education from Stanford University.

A graduate of Emory University School of Law, Janet began her legal career in Atlanta, Georgia, where she practiced with Atlanta Legal Services Agency.

After moving to Boston in 1969, Janet began practicing law with Jerome Lyle Rappaport, a partnership that continued until his death in 2021.  Janet served as the general counsel to New Boston Fund from its founding in 1983, until 2018 representing it and all its property-owning entities in all aspects of commercial real estate law. She also served as counsel to Charles River Park.

Janet is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, magna cum laude, where she served on the Mount Holyoke College Board of Trustees from 2006-2011.

She is a long-time member of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation (MBF) and has served on its Board from 2010 to 2018 and as its President from 2016 to 2018. In 2009, she received the MBF President’s Award.

Janet was a member of the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee from 2016 through 2019. She also served on the Board of The Rashi School for 14 years, chairing its Building Committee during the design, financing and construction of its current facility, which opened in Dedham in 2010.

Janet is a founding member of the Miriam Fund, a philanthropic community committed to creating an equitable world that expands opportunities for women and girls, and now sits on its Executive Committee.

Edward Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1992.

He regularly teaches microeconomics theory, and occasionally urban and public economics. He has served as Director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, and Director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

Edward has published dozens of papers on cities economic growth, law and economics. In particular, his work has focused on the determinants of city growth and the role of cities as centers of idea transmission. He received his Ph.D from the University of Chicago in 1992. His books include “Cities, Agglomeration, and Spatial Equilibrium,” “Triumph of the City,” and “Survival of the City.”

James Segel is President of the Boston Asset Management Association (BAMA), which consists of the major mutual funds in Boston, including Fidelity, Putnam, EatonVance, Hancock and others.

He served as a Massachusetts State Representative from Brookline from 1973 to 1978 and successfully ran Barney Frank’s first Congressional campaign. He was special counsel to Frank, then Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee (2007-2011), during the last financial crisis. James was the first Executive Director of the Mass Municipal Association, where he served for eight years.

He became counsel to Hale and Dorr (later Wilmer Hale) for nine years before forming his law firm: Smith Segel and Ruddock. He is a graduate of Harvard College, Boston College Law School, and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

James serves on the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Board of Trustees of Cambridge College, the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Arts Collaborative, and the regional Board of the American Jewish Committee.