Rubin, Robert Edward
Robert Edward Rubin (rōō´bĬn), 1938–, U.S. business executive and government official, b. New York City. A graduate of Harvard, he attended the London School of Economics before receiving his law degree from Yale in 1964. After briefly practicing law, Rubin joined (1966) the investment firm of Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he become (1971) a partner and eventually (1990–93) cochairman of the firm. He served as director (1993–94) of the National Economic Council under President Bill Clinton and in 1995 succeeded Lloyd Bentsen as treasury secretary. During his tenure, Rubin worked to stabilize the value of the dollar. He held the post during a long boom, and some analysts credit his policies for the massive U.S. economic growth of the late 1990s. He resigned in 1999 and was succeeded by his deputy, Lawrence Summers. He later joined (1999–2009) the Citigroup financial services company as senior counselor and a director and served Citigroup's interim chairman in 2007 as the company sought to recover from financial losses involving mortgage-related securities. His advocacy of Citigroup's investment in such complex investments tarnished his financial reputation. Rubin detailed his approaches to economics in his book In An Uncertain World (2003).