Jeffrey Epstein is an American financier, and science and education philanthropist with an estimated net worth of $2 billion. He is best known for funding The Program for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard University through The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation.

Jeffrey Edward Epstein was born on January 20, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York. He went to Lafayette High School and attended classes at Cooper Union from 1969 to 1971. He then went to the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences but left school without a degree. Between 1973 and 1975, he taught calculus and physics at the Dalton School.

Mr. Epstein’s career began when he joined Bear Stearns as a financial trader in 1976. He specialized in mathematical models such as the Black-Scholes option-pricing model later became a partner at the firm in 1980. He founded his own financial firm J. Epstein & Co. in 1982 which manages the assets of clients with more than a billion in net worth. He was known for turning down an account of $500 million calling it “too small.” In 1996, he changed the name of the firm to The Financial Trust Company.

One of the firm’s biggest and the only publicly known client was Leslie Wexner, the founder and chairman of the Limited chain of women’s clothing stores and the founder of the prominent Wexner Arts Center in Columbus, Ohio.