Ira Rennert

Rennert's parents were Jewish immigrants from Poland and Romania. He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1954, and earned his master's degree from New York University Stern School of Business in 1956, where he later was on the board of overseers.

Rennert started his career as a credit analyst on Wall Street in 1956. He also was a partner at Rubin, Rennert & Co. before launching his own business, I. L. Rennert & Co., in 1962. At this time he was censured by the National Association of Securities Dealers for operating with insufficient capital. It occurred again in 1963, and as a result, his license was revoked on November 29, 1964, effectively banning him from the securities industry. According to a company spokesman, Jon Goldberg: "Due to market conditions, the firm found itself in violation of the net capital rule and Rennert raised capital and put it into the firm to bring it into compliance. However, the firm once more fell beneath the net-capital requirements and he shut the company down."

Family

Rennert is married to Ingeborg Hanna Rennert, a former airline ticket agent who is a convert to Judaism. She is the director of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. They have three children:

Tamara Rennert Winn, married to Randall Winn, co-founder of Capital IQ (now S&P Capital IQ)

Yonina Rennert Davidson

Ari Rennert

Rennert is a member of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, an Orthodox synagogue where he is also honorary chairman.

Ira Rennert ranks #818 on Forbes magazine's list of the world's billionaires. He also ranks #29 on The Jerusalem Post list of the World's 50 Richest Jews.

Rennert and his wife Ingeborg have made many charitable donations to various organizations. They donated $5 million to establish the Wiesel Center at Boston University and $250,000 to the Lincoln Center. They also gave over $1 million to the World Trade Center Memorial and established the Rennert Entrepreneurial Institute of Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University. They have endowed chairs at several different universities, including a chair in Jewish studies at Barnard College, a chair in Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, a chair in Stem Cell Biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and the Ira Rennert Professorship of Business at Columbia University. They also established the Ira Leon Rennert Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance at New York University and founded the Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies at Bar-Ilan University.

The Rennerts also helped to fund the construction of The Western Wall Heritage Foundation in Jerusalem (the visitor center is called The Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert Hall of Light). Rennert's wife and children are named as the donors of The Jonas Mendel (Yonah Menachem Ben Mendel) Rennert Memorial Chapel at the Center for Jewish History. The Rennerts are known to have donated to Rabbi Aharon Bina's new yeshiva in Israel, Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh, and are additionally honored with a plaque as well as their family upon entrance into the building. They also donated hundreds of Torah scrolls to communities in Israel.

The family also funded the construction for a new mikvah at the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, which was completed in May 2010.

Rennert is a major Republican donor. He has contributed money to John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and other candidates.

Together with his spouse, Rennert contributed $900,000 to Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign.