David M. Rubenstein

David Rubenstein, an only child, was born in 1949 in Baltimore. His father was a post-office file clerk. When Rubenstein was six, his mother began working in a dress shop. The family lived in a row house in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood.

"When I was young, Baltimore was a religiously segregated city," says Rubenstein. "The Jews were in the northwest part of town, and it was very much a ghetto situation. I was 13 before I realized everyone in the world was not Jewish. Up to that point, everyone I knew was Jewish."

From an early age, Rubenstein worked hard in school and spent the summers working as a camp counselor, selling magazine subscriptions door to door, and working in the post office. He figured that if he worked hard, he would get ahead in life.

Academically, his diligence began to pay off when he skipped a grade in middle school; he entered high school at 14 and graduated at 16. Rubenstein felt the need to prove himself with older students, so his drive to work hard continued. He wanted to go to college and knew the only way to make that happen would be to earn a scholarship.

As a boy, Rubenstein was inspired by President John F. Kennedy. He developed a keen interest in government and politics and hoped to pursue that someday. His parents supported him in whatever he wanted to study. "We were a very close family and I wanted to make them proud," he says. "My mother sort of wanted me to be a dentist. She thought that was the height of professional achievement."

Another influence on young Rubenstein was a boys' club in Baltimore called the Lancers. Organized by a local judge, the Lancers brought together young men from all over the city for athletic competitions, lectures from prominent leaders, and lessons on citizenship. "I think the Lancers inspired me to think outside of the provincial world in which I was living," says Rubenstein.

Further growth took place when he entered high school. He attended Baltimore City College, founded in 1839 as the third oldest high school in the United States. Students came from all over Baltimore, and Rubenstein began to see the world as a much more complex place with myriad opportunities for those who were willing to work hard. "There were 1,500 students in my class, which was a lot of competition," he says, "but I was a serious student and did well academically."

Rubenstein attended Duke University on a scholarship, but he also took out loans and worked part time to cover expenses. He continued to get scholarships in college that were based on his high grade point average. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude. On a full tuition scholarship, he attended law school at the University of Chicago, where he made the Law Review as a result of his academic performance.

Still interested in politics, Rubenstein knew that he wanted to pursue public service. He felt he did not have the charisma to be a political candidate, so he decided he would be the "man behind the man." He took a job on Wall Street with the politically attuned law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. "The firm included a number of attorneys I had always admired, including Ted Sorensen," says Rubenstein. "He was a role model for me since he had been the top speechwriter and advisor to President Kennedy. I was a very young associate and he was a very senior partner, but I did work with him on a number of projects and developed a high regard for him."

A few years later, Rubenstein moved to Washington, D.C., and at age 25, became chief counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments. The subcommittee was chaired by Sen. Birch Bayh (D-IN), who was then running for the 1976 Democratic Party nomination for president.

When Bayh dropped out of the race, Rubenstein joined Jimmy Carter's campaign. During the election, he helped craft domestic policy with campaign adviser Stuart Eizenstat. The two formed a close working relationship, and after the election, Carter appointed Rubenstein as his deputy domestic policy adviser.

"Working for the Carter administration was a heady experience," says Rubenstein. "I was 27 and had an office in the West Wing. I got calls from the president asking for my views on issues. There are few thrills that are better than being three years out of law school and walking out of the Oval Office with no one but the Secret Service and the president of the United States, getting on Marine One, and having your parents standing on the south lawn of the White House. I loved every minute of it."

In 1981, Rubenstein became a partner at the Washington law firm of Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge. Within six years, he became a partner, but he soon realized he did not have a passion for law and began to look for other opportunities.

In 1987, Rubenstein and three other partners raised $5 million to start a private investment firm that does venture capital and buyouts. From the beginning, they focused on government-oriented firms, believing their Washington base would enable them to better understand such companies. The Carlyle Group grew into the world's largest private equity firm.

"If you work hard, if you chase your dreams, and if you are humble about what you want to do and where you have come from, you can achieve great things with your life," Rubenstein says when asked about his successful career. "If you have an idea that you think will work, and you develop a passion for it, this country will put no limits to how far you can go. You just never know where life will take you."