William R. Berkley

Founder
W. R. Berkley Corporation

In 1967, William R. Berkley founded W. R. Berkley Corporation, a Fortune 500 property-casualty insurance holding company with assets of over $41.3 billion and annual revenues in excess of $13.9 billion. He served continuously as Chairman of the Board and served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer until October 2015, when he became Executive Chairman. In addition, he served as Chairman of many of the company subsidiaries, including Berkley Dean & Company, an investment management group.

During his career, Mr. Berkley founded a number of public and private companies, including several banks and a number of industrial companies. He served as Chairman of the American Insurance Association, and was a member of the Board of Directors of the National Parks Conservation Association.

Mr. Berkley graduated from New York University and the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He served on the NYU Board of Trustees for 30 years, including 8 years as Chairman. During his tenure on the Board, he also served as Chairman of the NYU Stern School of Business and was a member of the Board of Trustees of NYU Langone Medical Center. Bill Berkley conceived of and implemented The Berkley Scholars program at NYU, Stern School of Business. This initiative provides full tuition scholarships to talented undergraduate students from across the United States.

Mr. Berkley served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Georgetown University, where he helped create the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, an initiative devoted to fostering inter-religious dialogue and global cultural understanding. He and his family are foundational supporters of the Berkley School of Nursing at Georgetown University.

William Berkley was a former Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the University of Connecticut and served as Chairman of Achievement First, a group of charter schools operating in the New York Metropolitan area, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Achievement First schools serve over 15,000 inner-city children and have been rated among the outstanding charter schools in America.

Over the years, he received many awards for his business, civic and philanthropic activities, including an honorary Doctor of Law degree from Mercy College. In 1999, he was awarded the Medallion for Entrepreneurship by Beta Gamma Sigma, which honors outstanding individuals who combine innovative business achievements with service to humanity. In April 2006, he received the Charles Waldo Haskins award, given annually by NYU’s Stern School of Business to a nationally prominent business and public service leader. He was the 2011 recipient of the Valentine Mott Award, given by the NYU Langone Medical Center, in recognition of exceptional and long-standing support and leadership. In 2024, he was inducted into The Horatio Alger Society and shortly thereafter elected to its Board of Directors. In 2026, he received an Honorary Degree from The New York University School of Medicine. An avid collector of antiquarian books, he was a member of the American Antiquarian Society, The Grolier Club, and the Walpole Society.

Bill Berkley was a product of the American dream. He deeply believed in giving back to others. His philanthropic endeavors were vast and varied with an engagement directed towards education, healthcare, and environmental causes. He was a critical thinker and problem solver, constantly looking to turn his insight into action. He was deeply interested in bettering the world through educating and providing opportunity to the next generation.

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