Obituary for Alan J. Dworsky
Alan J Dworsky died January 19, 2021 at the age of 90. He was born in New York City in 1930, the eldest son of Ruth Shenier Dworsky, a pianist and lawyer, and Moses F. Dworsky, a founder of Fidelis Factors. He was a graduate of Ethical Culture Fieldston School (1948), Yale College (AB 1952), MIT (B Arch 1957) and Harvard Graduate School of Business (MBA 1966). He was a resident of Cambridge, MA and Chilmark, MA.
Alan began the first of his two careers as an architect with The Architects Collaborative (TAC) in Cambridge, MA and then switched vocation and avocation by attending business school with the express purpose of becoming a security analyst. He joined the Putnam Management Company, Boston, MA in 1966 where he became a security analyst and later a portfolio manager of Putnam Investors mutual fund and large pension funds.
Alan left Putnam in 1983 and founded the Boston-based investment management firm Mt. Auburn Management in 1984 where he was Principal and Investment Officer until its close in 2007. The firm’s typical client was an endowment or foundation; Alan managed a portion of a client’s assets in a concentrated style which was unique at its time. He invested in only 9 to 12 positions at a time, and by design kept the business small in the number of clients throughout the 23 years. He believed concentration enhances performance as it increases the impact of perceptive analysis and judgment and facilitates the scrutiny of positions.
Alan served as a Trustee of Taconic Foundation from 1980 to 2013 when it closed. He also served as a Boston Symphony Overseer from 2006 to 2008 and a BSO Trustee from 2008 to 2020. One of his special interests led to the establishment of the Alan J Dworsky and Suzanne W Dworsky Fund for Voice and Chorus to support the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and its Choral Director and Conductor. He believed the voice is the original instrument and a chorus is an example of democracy in action with people of all backgrounds coming together.
Through his foundation Alan actively supported environmental, tax, research, social justice, and public policy organizations; choral singing; early childhood initiatives; Kodaly-based music education in Cambridge public schools; and hunger relief during the Covid-19 pandemic. He endowed a position of Curator of Chinese Art at the Harvard Art Museums as well as a position of Objects Conservator at the Yale University Art Gallery.
Alan enjoyed the cultural life of the greater Cambridge area from music to museums to restaurants. On Martha’s Vineyard he found serenity in the landscape and at the house he designed and enjoyed sailing a Sunfish on Chilmark Pond. Interest in many cultures and art led to international travel with his wife and introducing his grandchildren to the education and pleasure of travel.
Alan will be greatly missed by his wife of 40 years Suzanne Werber Dworsky and his loving family He leaves two children, Jeff Dworsky (Stonington, ME) and Arianne Dar (Bolinas, CA) and their mother Anna Zilboorg; five grandchildren, Isaac Dworsky and his wife Meghan, Zephyr Dworsky and her husband Anthony Bustamante, Cyrus Dworsky and his partner Lexi Heiser, Imran Dar and his partner Devra Fox, and Rayhannah Dar; and two great-grandchildren, Selah Dworsky and Marigold Dworsky. He also leaves two sisters-in-law: Nancy L Werber and Suzanne R Dworsky; his younger brother Leo, also of Cambridge, died in September 2020.
A private family burial will be held. A memorial event is not yet scheduled.
Alan began the first of his two careers as an architect with The Architects Collaborative (TAC) in Cambridge, MA and then switched vocation and avocation by attending business school with the express purpose of becoming a security analyst. He joined the Putnam Management Company, Boston, MA in 1966 where he became a security analyst and later a portfolio manager of Putnam Investors mutual fund and large pension funds.
Alan left Putnam in 1983 and founded the Boston-based investment management firm Mt. Auburn Management in 1984 where he was Principal and Investment Officer until its close in 2007. The firm’s typical client was an endowment or foundation; Alan managed a portion of a client’s assets in a concentrated style which was unique at its time. He invested in only 9 to 12 positions at a time, and by design kept the business small in the number of clients throughout the 23 years. He believed concentration enhances performance as it increases the impact of perceptive analysis and judgment and facilitates the scrutiny of positions.
Alan served as a Trustee of Taconic Foundation from 1980 to 2013 when it closed. He also served as a Boston Symphony Overseer from 2006 to 2008 and a BSO Trustee from 2008 to 2020. One of his special interests led to the establishment of the Alan J Dworsky and Suzanne W Dworsky Fund for Voice and Chorus to support the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and its Choral Director and Conductor. He believed the voice is the original instrument and a chorus is an example of democracy in action with people of all backgrounds coming together.
Through his foundation Alan actively supported environmental, tax, research, social justice, and public policy organizations; choral singing; early childhood initiatives; Kodaly-based music education in Cambridge public schools; and hunger relief during the Covid-19 pandemic. He endowed a position of Curator of Chinese Art at the Harvard Art Museums as well as a position of Objects Conservator at the Yale University Art Gallery.
Alan enjoyed the cultural life of the greater Cambridge area from music to museums to restaurants. On Martha’s Vineyard he found serenity in the landscape and at the house he designed and enjoyed sailing a Sunfish on Chilmark Pond. Interest in many cultures and art led to international travel with his wife and introducing his grandchildren to the education and pleasure of travel.
Alan will be greatly missed by his wife of 40 years Suzanne Werber Dworsky and his loving family He leaves two children, Jeff Dworsky (Stonington, ME) and Arianne Dar (Bolinas, CA) and their mother Anna Zilboorg; five grandchildren, Isaac Dworsky and his wife Meghan, Zephyr Dworsky and her husband Anthony Bustamante, Cyrus Dworsky and his partner Lexi Heiser, Imran Dar and his partner Devra Fox, and Rayhannah Dar; and two great-grandchildren, Selah Dworsky and Marigold Dworsky. He also leaves two sisters-in-law: Nancy L Werber and Suzanne R Dworsky; his younger brother Leo, also of Cambridge, died in September 2020.
A private family burial will be held. A memorial event is not yet scheduled.