Richard Saul Wurman

Wurman was born in Philadelphia on March 26, 1935. He received both his B.Arch. and M.Arch. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, completing his graduate degree with honors in 1959.

After graduating, Wurman practiced architecture for 13 years including working for Louis Kahn in 1960–1961, Charles and Ray Eames, and independently.

In 1962, he took a teaching position at North Carolina State University's School of Design.

Wurman chaired the IDCA Conference in 1972, the First Federal Design assembly in 1973, and the annual American Institute of Architects (AIA) conference in 1976.

Wurman is the founder of TED conferences which later became TED Talks. He created and chaired the TED conferences from their creation in 1984 through 2002, TEDMED from 1995 through 2010, the EG conference, and the WWW conference. He sold the rights to TED in 2001 to the Sapling Foundation for a reported $14 million.

He works with Esri and RadicalMedia on comparative cartographic initiatives for mapping urban settings, which is planned to culminate in the creation of a network of live urban observatories around the world.

Wurman supports SENS Research Foundation, a nonprofit biotechnology organization that seeks to repair the damages of aging and extend healthy lifespan. He taught at University of Cambridge, North Carolina State University and Princeton.

Wurman lives on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, and in Golden Beach, Florida, after having previously lived in Manhattan in New York City. He's been married to novelist Gloria Nagy since 1980. They have four children and six grandchildren. Wurman is Jewish.