Oral history interview with Peter G. Peterson and Joan Ganz Cooney, 2014

Biographical Note

Pete Peterson is founder and chairman of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. Peterson's distinguished and far-reaching career spans more than five decades, including contributions and accomplishments in public service, business, and philanthropy. Petereson's public service began in 1971 when President Richard Nixon named him Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs. One year later, he was named U.S. Secretary of Commerce. From from 2000 to 2004, he chaired the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In 1985, he co-founded The Blackstone Group, and over the next two decades, he helped to grow the firm into a global leader in alternative investments. In the 1970s and 80s, Peterson served as chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers and Lehman Brothers, Kuhn, Loeb Inc. Before working in Washington, Peterson was chairman and CEO of audio-visual equipment manufacturer Bell and Howell, and an executive at advertising firm McCann Erickson. Joan Ganz Cooney co-founded the Children's Television Workshop (since renamed Sesame Workshop) in 1968 and has created children's programming, including Sesame Street, The Electric Company, 3-2-1 Contact, and Dragon Tales, for more than three decades. She served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sesame Workshop until 1990 and at the time of the interview was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Workshop's board

Scope and Contents

Peterson and Ganz Cooney discuss their philanthropic life histories, which include fiscal policy reform, and youth education and digital learning, respectively. They then discuss their friendship with Mitchell Rosenthal. They speak to their role in supporting Phoenix House through fundraising efforts via their own donations, connecting the organization to a number of influential donors, and encouraging innovative fundraising strategies that catapulted Phoenix House into the world of the New York elite

Subjects

• Cooney, Joan Ganz, interviewee.
• Cooney, Joan Ganz--Interviews.
• Executives--Interviews.
• Fund raising.
• Interviews.
• Nonprofit organizations--Finance.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Peterson, Peter G.--Interviews.
• Philanthropists--United States.
• Phoenix House (Organization)
• Rosenthal, Mitchell S., 1935-
• Therapeutic communities.
• Vanderscoff, Cameron, interviewer.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2014