Rapoport, Bernard, 1917-2012

Bernard Rapoport was born in 1917 in San Antonio, Texas. The son of Russian immigrants, he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1939 with a degree in economics. In 1951 he founded the American Income Life Insurance Company in Waco, serving as chair and CEO of the company. A former University of Texas System regent and major contributor to the university, Rapoport is widely known for his philanthropy and dedication to social justice, education, the Democratic Party, and the State of Israel. He and his wife Audre founded the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation in 1987 with their personal contribution of $47 million. The foundation supports education, the arts, Jewish causes, the government, and health and human services organizations.

Rapoport is founder, chairman of the board, and chief executive officer of American Income Life Insurance Company, Waco, Texas, which specializes in insurance for labor union workers. An active member of and contributor to a variety of political, educational, and social welfare organizations, he is a well-known supporter of liberal Democratic politicans and causes.

Bernard Rapoport was born in 1917 in San Antonio, Texas. The son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1939 with a degree in economics. In 1951 he founded the American Income Life Insurance Company in Waco, serving as chair and CEO of the company. This success in business led him to receive the 1999 Horatio Alger Award of Distinguished Americans, given to those who succeed despite adversity.

A former University of Texas System regent, 1993-1997, and major contributor to the university, Rapoport is widely known for his philanthropy and dedication to social justice, education, the Democratic Party, and the State of Israel. Rapoport has been active in numerous organizations such as the Central Texas Sickle Cell Anemia Association, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, the National Hispanic Center for Advanced Studies and Policy Analysis, the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, the Texas Observer, the United Negro College Fund, and the Jerusalem Foundation. Furthermore, he and his wife Audre founded the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation in 1987 with their personal contribution of $47 million. The foundation supports education, the arts, Jewish causes, participation in democracy, and health and human services organizations.

In 2002, Rapoport and Don Carleton published the memoir Being Rapoport: Capitalist with a Conscience (Austin: University of Texas Press).

Texas philanthropist and entrepreneur Bernard Rapoport (1917-2012) founded the multi-million dollar American Income Life Insurance Company. With his wife, he established the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation to support organizations in Israel and Waco as well as the University of Texas and numerous other educational, welfare, and political projects. The couple heavily supported and contributed to the Texas Democratic Party and candidates and political groups in the United States, including Bill and Hilary Rodham Clinton, Ralph Yarborough, Ann Richards, Ted Kennedy, Lloyd Bentsen, and George McGovern.

Born in San Antonio on July 17, 1917, Rapoport learned from an early age the importance of family, community, and generosity. His parents David and Riva Rapoport had fled Russia following their participation in the revolution of 1905. They instilled in their son and daughter Idel the importance of education, political freedom, Judaism, and generosity. During the Great Depression, Rapoport worked his way through the University of Texas (UT), graduating with a degree in economics in 1939 and marrying Audre Newman three years later.

In 1951, Rapoport and his wife’s uncle Harold Goodman founded the American Income Life Insurance Company (AIL) with $25,000 in Indianapolis, moving the headquarters to Waco in 1958. Under Rapoport’s leadership, the company spread into labor union and credit union markets and became one of the first Union Label insurance companies. In 1994, the insurance and financial services holding company Torchmark Corporation purchased AIL for $563 million.

Rapoport spent most of his life actively supporting the Democratic Party, starting with his membership in the Progressive Democrats while at UT and Homer Rainey’s gubernatorial campaign in 1944. He later supported Ralph Yarborough, Frances Sissy Farenthold, Ann Richards, Ted Kennedy, Alan Cranston, and George McGovern, during whose campaign in 1972 Bernard met Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton. From 1974 onward, Rapoport donated to every one of Clinton’s campaigns and served as fundraiser for both of his presidential bids.

The Rapoports founded the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation in 1987. Annual contributions supported the state of Israel, the University of Texas at Austin, the Waco community, and other worthwhile projects, including the Jerusalem Foundation, Planned Parenthood, the Institute for Policy Studies, and Paul Quinn College. The Bernard and Audre Rapoport Academy in the Waco Independent School District is named in honor of their support. Furthermore, he believed in the protection of free speech and freedom of the press, contributing to the Texas Observer for fifty years, first as an advertiser and later as a member of the board of the newspaper’s publisher Texas Democracy Foundation.

Rapoport’s time at the University of Texas (UT) greatly influenced his success in life, and his pride in his alma mater resulted in both financial and service contributions to the University. In 1991, Ann Richards appointed Rapoport to the UT System Board of Regents, on which he served as chairman from 1993 until his retirement from the board in 1997. During his tenure, the board approved the South Texas-Border Initiative to increase access to higher education in South Texas, the purchasing power of the Permanent University Fund increased, and the University created the UT Investment Management Company. Rapoport also established or contributed to numerous endowments for scholarships and chairs in economics and the liberal arts and funding the Blanton Museum of Art and the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice. Named in recognition of the couple, the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Building on the UT-Austin campus houses the College of Liberal Arts.

In 2002, the University of Texas Press in the Briscoe Center’s Focus on American History Series published Rapoport’s memoir, Being Rapoport: Capitalist with a Conscience, as told to Briscoe Center director Dr. Don Carleton. Currently, the Briscoe Center in collaboration with the Rapoport Foundation and UT Libraries is working on a project to digitize the memoir as well as numerous historical documents and photographs to accompany the text for a revised and enhanced digital edition of Being Rapoport.