David Morgenthaler, American businessman, Died at 96

  Business

David Turner Morgenthaler was born on August 5, 1919, and died on June 17, 2016.

He was an American businessman and capitalist.

He was the founder the venture capital firm Morgenthaler Ventures.

Morgenthaler was also instrumental in helping with the change that the U.S. capital gains tax rate from 49% to 28% in 1978 and amending ERISA legislation to allow pension funds to invest in venture capital in 1979.

He received an S.B. and S.M. in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1941.

Whilst at MIT, he was elected Vice President—and later became President—of the Senior Class (1940).

David Morgenthaler was also President of Sigma Nu Fraternity (1938–39), Captain of the M.I.T. Swimming Team (1936–37), a member of Osiris, the senior honorary fraternity, and other class honorary societies.

The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 8, 1941, Morgenthaler was called to active duty in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a Second Lieutenant in the 21st Aviation Engineer Regiment.

David Morgenthaler was promoted to Captain, commanding a line company in the North African campaign building airfields in French Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

Towards the end , in Italy, he was promoted to command the Headquarters and Service Company of the regiment – one of the largest engineer units in the Mediterranean—and, in addition, was the Chief Technical Officer for the Area Engineer of Eastern Italy.

He served as a Major in the U.S. Army Reserves until his discharge.

David Morgenthaler passed away at 96 yrs old.