Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Forward 50 2015

Paul Singer

Hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer is coming out of the shadows. A philanthropist and Republican political donor whose name was known only to insiders, Singer is now moving to the front row both in politics and in Jewish life.

While much of the public attention in the GOP race has been directed at Sheldon Adelson and the Koch brothers, Republican candidates also courted Singer for his generous support, and the New York-based businessman recently announced he will back Marco Rubio for the GOP nomination.

Singer, founder of Elliott Management, made his fortune by buying distressed debts and selling them for higher value, including debts of cash-strapped nations such as Argentina.

Singer, 71, has been a longtime supporter of hawkish pro-Israel causes and is one of the major funders of the conservative think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies. During the debate over the Iranian nuclear deal, Singer used his fortune to support opponents of the agreement, including by founding an anti-deal Christian group.

Singer also sought to promote Christian support for Israel by signing on to partner with a fundamentalist Christian billionaire to launch a Birthright-like initiative aimed at evangelical students who want to visit Israel.

But at least on one issue, Singer has shown he is not a run-of-the-mill Republican donor. Breaking ranks with many of the party’s key backers, Singer, whose son is married to a man, has devoted time and resources to fighting for gay rights, including within the Republican Party.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.