Gerald Tsai, Jr

The Tsai Performance Center has been made possible through the generosity of the Tsai family, especially Gerald Tsai, Jr., a distinguished alumnus and trustee of Boston University.

Gerald Tsai, Jr. (CAS’49, GRS’49, Hon.’03) was born in Shanghai, China, on March 10, 1929, and attended St. John’s Middle School and St. John’s University. He came to the United States in 1947 and, after one semester at Wesleyan University, transferred to Boston University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the College of Liberal Arts and a Master of Arts in Economics from the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences in 1949. In addition, Mr. Tsai enrolled in several courses at the Questrom School of Business.

Gerald Tsai, Jr., began his distinguished investment career in 1951 as a security analyst at Bache & Company. A year later, he joined the Boston firm of Fidelity Management and Research Company, Inc., as a security analyst, and rapidly ascended from assistant vice president of Fidelity Fund, Inc., to vice president, to director and executive vice president of the company in 1963. In 1965, Mr. Tsai established the Tsai Management & Research Corporation, which he later sold to CNA Financial Corporation. He bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in 1973 and operated under the name G. Tsai and Company. In 1978, Mr. Tsai became chairman and chief executive officer of Associated Madison Companies, Inc. Mr. Tsai joined American Can Company, which later became Primerica Corporation, as executive vice president and a member of the company’s board of directors in 1982, when the company acquired Associated Madison. He became the principal strategist in building Primerica’s financial services businesses, and subsequently was named chief executive officer and chairman of the board. From 1993 to 1997, he served as chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Delta Life Corporation, a life insurance and annuity company. He was chairman of his own management and consulting firm, Tsai Management, Inc., and president of the philanthropic Gerald Tsai Foundation.

Mr. Tsai was a trustee of Mount Sinai-New York University Medical Center and Health System, and New York University School of Medicine Foundation Board, and director of Saks Incorporated, Sequa Corporation, Triarc Companies, Inc., and Zenith National Insurance Corporation. He received the Man of the Year Award from the Chinatown Planning Council of New York and the Boston University Alumni Award for Distinguished Public Service to the Profession in 1985. Mr. Tsai was an Associate Founder of Boston University, and served on the Board of Trustees from 1967 to 1977, and from 1988 to 2008. Mr. Tsai passed away in July 2008.