Richard C. Blum

Richard C. Blum is an investment banker and the husband of United States Senator from California Dianne Feinstein. He is a managing partner Blum Capital Partners, LP, an investment firm, and has a net worth of over $50 million. [1] (http://www.blumcapital.com/)

In 2002, Blum was appointed by California Governor Gray Davis to a 12-year term as a Regent of the University of California.

Blum serves on the boards of the following companies:

• CB Richard Ellis (Chairman) [2] (http://www.cbre.com/)
• Newbridge Capital, LLC (co-Chairman) [3] (http://www.newbridgecapital.com/)
• Korea First Bank [4] (http://www.kfb.co.kr/newweb/index_eng.jsp)
• Northwest Airlines
• Playtex Products [5] (http://www.playtex.com/)
• Glenborough Realty Trust [6] (http://www.glenborough.com/)
• Kinetic Concepts (jointly owned with Fremont Partners[?]) [7] (http://www.kci1.com/)

Critics have frequently accused Blum and Sen. Feinstein of political corruption and conflicts of interest arising from his business interests and his contributions to his wife's Senate campaigns. In 1992, Feinstein was fined $190,000 for failing to disclose that Blum had guaranteed nearly $3 million in loans to fund her 1990 bid for California governor. In 1997, a Los Angeles Times[?] article revealed that while Feinstein was campaigning in the Senate for a lifting of trade sanctions against China, Blum was managing millions of dollars of investments in Chinese businesses through his firm Newbridge Capital. Shortly after the scandal erupted, Blum announced that he would donate all of his profits from his China investments to charity.

Blum has a strong interest in Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism. In 1981 he attempted to climb Mount Everest from the Tibetan side with Sir Edmund Hillary. He is the founder of the American Himalayan Foundation, which has given millions of dollars to build hospitals and schools in Tibet and Nepal.

References

• Feinstein, Husband Hold Strong China Connections; Asia: Senator, Blum insist a solid "firewall" separates her foreign policy role, his growing business interests there. Glenn F. Bunting; The Los Angeles Times; March 28, 1997; pg. 1
• Richard Blum hones art of upping shareholder value. Loren Steffy; Bloomberg News; August 4, 2002. [8] (http://www.thestate.com/mld/cctimes/2002/08/04/business/3797001.htm)