Leslie G. Rudd - Founder

The Rudd Foundation is a private, non-profit organization funded in 1998 by Leslie G. Rudd, entrepreneur and philanthropist.  Mr. Rudd is the proprietor of Dean & DeLuca, Rudd Winery, Edge Hill Estate, PRESS restaurant, Distillery No. 209 and Standard Beverage Corporation, as well as the founder and benefactor of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, and primary benefactor of the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at the Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone campus in St. Helena, California.

Mr. Rudd employs the same visionary and entrepreneurial spirit in his philanthropic efforts as he does to his for-profit activities. Striving towards his long held goal to change the way food and wine are viewed in America, he established and funded the Rudd Foundation in 1998, and subsequently, the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, whose mission is to fund research and education in the fight against obesity and weight discrimination. Since its launch in the fall of 2005, the Rudd Center at Yale has received widespread recognition for its leading edge research and expertise in this field.  Rudd was the primary benefactor of the new wine studies facility at the Culinary Institute of America’s west coast campus in St. Helena opened in 2003.  Housed in a now renovated historic building, the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies explores the dynamics of wine and food and offers two nationally recognized certification programs and a comprehensive portfolio of wine studies classes.

History is important to Leslie Rudd. He stays close to his Wichita roots and his reverence for the structures he restores and the enterprises he is bringing back to life is evident in every detail of their building and operation.  But Rudd is making history as well, creating and supporting new businesses and institutions whose vision and quality will ensure them a long and distinguished history of their own.

Rudd Foundation Contact Information:

Andrea Rudd Skibell – Vice President
6210 Raintree Court
Dallas, TX 75240
askibell@sbcglobal.net

Ellen Hunt – Executive Director
PO Box 105
Oakville, CA 94562
ellen@ruddgrp.com