Black Billionaire Robert Smith Gifts $20 Million To The NMAAHC

Black Billionaire Robert Smith Gifts $20 Million To The NMAAHC

Billionaire tech investor and equity titan Robert Smith was recently named at one of the richest people in the world but the quiet guru has also invested his money for the culture.

According to Washington Post, even the director of development at the National Museum of African American History and Culture wasn’t aware of who the billionaire was after he gifted the site $20 million:

Soon many more people will know Robert Smith by name as the museum celebrates its grand opening this weekend. The private-equity financier was the museum’s second-biggest private donor, with a $20 million gift. Oprah Winfrey was No. 1, with $21 million.

Smith has built a fortune that’s made him one of the nation’s richest men — worth $2.5 billion, according to Forbes — but until now he has kept his work and philanthropy relatively quiet.

Even the website of his company, Vista Equity Partners, does not have a picture of him. Better, he had thought, that investors and executives know him first by his abilities. If they saw only the caramel skin of an African American, he might lose out on opportunities.

Have you visited the museum or considered donating to the historic site?

Anna Webber/Getty Images/Forbes