David G. Booth

David G. Booth (born c. 1946) is an American businessman. He is the co-founder and co-CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors (along with Rex Sinquefield and Eduardo Repetto, respectively). In 2008, he donated $300 million to the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (equivalent to $330 million in 2016), which is the largest donation ever given to a business school. It has since been renamed the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He earned his MBA degree from the school in 1971. Booth grew up in Lawrence, Kansas.

Booth graduated from Lawrence High School in Lawrence, Kansas and then received a B.A. in economics in 1968 and an M.S. in business in 1969 from the University of Kansas, also located in Lawrence. He then enrolled at the University of Chicago GSB in 1969 as a doctoral student, leaving in 1971 with an M.B.A. degree. He was a research assistant to Eugene Fama, and met his future business partner, Rex Sinquefield at the school.

After pioneering index fund investing at Wells Fargo Bank, he joined with Sinquefield in 1981 to form Dimensional Fund Advisors. The fund focuses on investment strategies in "small" (low capitalization) stocks, as well as "value" (low price/book ratio) and non-U.S. stocks. The firm, which is privately held, manages about $460 billion.

He has published several academic articles including "Diversification Returns and Asset Management" with Eugene Fama. The article won the 1992 Graham and Dodd Award of Excellence from the Financial Analysts Journal.

David Booth has served on many institutional boards, including as a Governor of the Kravis Leadership Institute and the UCLA Foundation; as a Trustee of the American Academy in Rome and the Paintings Conservation Council of the J. Paul Getty Trust; as a Trustee of the University of Chicago; as a member of the Board of Directors of Georgetown University; and as a Trustee of the University of Kansas Endowment Association.

David Booth has been recognized for making one of the largest endowments to an American university in history, giving $300 million to his alma mater, the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, in November 2008. Booth graduated from the university in 1971 with a Masters in Business Administration. He is a trustee of the school, which is now named The University of Chicago Booth School of Business in his honor.

The payment towards the university is being spread over a period of years, and will be partly in cash and in the form of a considerable share of stock in the finance firm's parent company, Dimensional Holdings. The fund's general purpose is to further the school publications and research centers, as well as the faculty's professional development. The fund also provides for opportunities to expand the university's reputation as a regional player through its international campuses in London and Singapore.

In 1997 Booth, along with his wife, also gave $10 million to support the construction of a campus building.

David and his wife Suzanne Deal Booth were named by BusinessWeek as number 34 of 2008's 50 Top American Givers. The list recognizes annually the 50 most generous American philanthropists. They are cited as having donated $309 million between the years 2004–2008.

In 2004 the Booth family gave $9 million to the University of Kansas to fund the Booth Family Hall of Athletics attached to Allen Fieldhouse.

Their philanthropy focus has been educational institutions and art restoration projects. In 1998 Booth created the Friends of Heritage Preservation, which acts as a rapid response team for art preservation initiatives, whose area of focus ranges from entire historical sites to single works of art.

In 2010 the Booths purchased James Naismith's original 1891 copy of the rules of basketball for $4,338,500, which included $3.8 million as the final price for the copy of the rules as well as the auction house fees and a buyer's premium. The purchase price set a world record for sports memorabilia. Booth purchased the document at Sotheby's auction from the charitable Naismith International Basketball Foundation, in order to display them at his alma mater, the University of Kansas, where Naismith was a coach and educator for decades. The purchase of this historical artifact was documented in the 2012 ESPN 30 for 30 film There's No Place Like Home, directed by Josh Swade and Maura Mandt.

The Booth Center for Special Collections at Georgetown's Lauinger Library, is named after the Booths. The center, funded by a $5 million donation, contains a number of archival documents related to Georgetown as well as an extensive collection of rare books, manuscripts, and art.

He married Suzanne Deal Booth in 1988. Suzanne is the daughter of Harry Deal, a decorated sailor who fought in World War II. The couple has two children, Erin Deal Booth and David Chandler Booth (known as Chandler Booth), and reside in Austin, Texas