BIOGRAPHY

Born in Budapest in 1930, Soros survived the Nazi occupation during World War II and fled communist-dominated Hungary in 1947 for England, where he graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He then settled in the United States, founding and managing a successful international investment fund.

Soros Fund Management
The Open Society Foundations

Soros has been active as a philanthropist since 1979, when he began providing funds to help black students attend Cape Town University in apartheid South Africa. The Open Society Foundations today operate in more than 100 countries, with annual expenditures of $873 million in 2013. Soros’ commitment to the idea of open society—where rights are respected, government is accountable, and no one has a monopoly on the truth—makes the Open Society Foundations unlike any other private philanthropic effort in history. Soros has shared his ideas about philanthropy, philosophy, economics, and politics as the author of numerous newspaper and magazine articles and over a dozen books, including The Tragedy of the European Union (2014).

For over two decades, Soros has been a leading advocate for the Burmese democracy movement, promoting open society values through support for independent media, education reform, and a rights-based approach to public health, among other causes. His focus is inclusive, engaging a broad spectrum of actors, from grassroots activists to government officials.