Dear Members of the Yale Community, I write with profound sadness to share the news that David Swensen, Yale’s chief investment officer, died yesterday evening after a long and courageous battle with cancer. David served our university with distinction. He was an exceptional colleague, a dear friend, and a beloved mentor to many in our community. Future generations will benefit from his dedication, brilliance, and generosity. After receiving his Ph.D. in economics from Yale in 1980, David worked for Salomon Brothers and Lehman Brothers before returning to Yale in 1985 to lead our investments office. With his guidance, Yale’s endowment yielded returns that established him as a legend among institutional investors. Over the years, he lectured in Yale College and the School of Management. On Monday, he and long-time friend and colleague Dean Takahashi taught the last class of the term for Investment Analysis, a seminar they co-instructed for thirty-five years. David was an incorporator of the Elizabethan Club and a fellow of Berkeley College. In fact, he was a first-year counselor in Berkeley when he was studying for his doctorate at Yale, and he maintained connections with the people he counseled all those decades ago.