Meridee Moore ’83 Makes Gift to Law School, Yale College

Meridee Moore, founder of Watershed Asset Management, L.L.C., is a hedge fund manager who specializes in restructurings, but her real passion lies in how commercial incentives can help bring about equity in society.

Her gift benefiting both the Yale Law School Tomorrow campaign and Yale University’s Yale Tomorrow capital campaign will encourage students and faculty to find ways to use the tools of commerce to bring social justice to disadvantaged individuals.

A philosophy major at the University of Colorado, Moore continued her interest in the subject while attending the Law School, taking former Dean Anthony Kronman’s contracts class and his Plato’s Theory of Justice class as a first-year student. Kronman, now Sterling Professor of Law, remembers well her passion for life and for the law.

“Meridee was full of intelligence and energy, and completely captivated by the peculiar quirks of contract law,” recalled Kronman. “I remember her vividly, sitting in the front row, smiling broadly whenever the cases we were studying took an unexpected—sometimes downright weird!—turn.”

“Because Meridee had studied philosophy in college, she was particularly well-disposed to my own tendency to take the discussion in a philosophical direction. She is one of the most fully alive human beings I’ve ever met, with an endowment of passion and energy equal to that of any twenty other people.”

Yale Tomorrow is a five-year, $3-billion comprehensive University-wide campaign, embracing all the University’s schools and programs. A $200-million initiative, the Law Tomorrow facet of the campaign provides a blueprint for securing the Law School’s position—financially and programmatically—for the decades ahead.

“Giving back to Yale was easy,” said Moore. “I attribute so much of the good fortune that I have experienced in my career to my Yale training and credential. The legal and philosophical education I received from Tony and others has served me well. Investing is predicting outcomes from an infinite number of variables, many of which require us to understand human behavior and motivation as well as the numbers. The quirks and inefficiencies are what make life, and investing, so challenging and so interesting.” Moore, parent of a Yale College freshman, is confident that her gift to the College’s campaign will be well managed.

 

“I have confidence that David Swensen and his team will manage my gift as wisely as they have managed the Yale Endowment for the last 22 years. Even a single gift like mine can grow to have a lasting impact on the University.”

Added Kronman, “Meridee has had a successful career, is a dedicated philanthropist, and has been a great friend of the Law School since she graduated—indeed, since the day she walked through the doors.”

Meridee Moore, founder of Watershed Asset Management, L.L.C., is a hedge fund manager who specializes in restructurings, but her real passion lies in how commercial incentives can help bring about equity in society.

Her gift benefiting both the Yale Law School Tomorrow campaign and Yale University’s Yale Tomorrow capital campaign will encourage students and faculty to find ways to use the tools of commerce to bring social justice to disadvantaged individuals.

A philosophy major at the University of Colorado, Moore continued her interest in the subject while attending the Law School, taking former Dean Anthony Kronman’s contracts class and his Plato’s Theory of Justice class as a first-year student. Kronman, now Sterling Professor of Law, remembers well her passion for life and for the law.

“Meridee was full of intelligence and energy, and completely captivated by the peculiar quirks of contract law,” recalled Kronman. “I remember her vividly, sitting in the front row, smiling broadly whenever the cases we were studying took an unexpected—sometimes downright weird!—turn.”

“Because Meridee had studied philosophy in college, she was particularly well-disposed to my own tendency to take the discussion in a philosophical direction. She is one of the most fully alive human beings I’ve ever met, with an endowment of passion and energy equal to that of any twenty other people.”

Yale Tomorrow is a five-year, $3-billion comprehensive University-wide campaign, embracing all the University’s schools and programs. A $200-million initiative, the Law Tomorrow facet of the campaign provides a blueprint for securing the Law School’s position—financially and programmatically—for the decades ahead.

“Giving back to Yale was easy,” said Moore. “I attribute so much of the good fortune that I have experienced in my career to my Yale training and credential. The legal and philosophical education I received from Tony and others has served me well. Investing is predicting outcomes from an infinite number of variables, many of which require us to understand human behavior and motivation as well as the numbers. The quirks and inefficiencies are what make life, and investing, so challenging and so interesting.” Moore, parent of a Yale College freshman, is confident that her gift to the College’s campaign will be well managed.

 

“I have confidence that David Swensen and his team will manage my gift as wisely as they have managed the Yale Endowment for the last 22 years. Even a single gift like mine can grow to have a lasting impact on the University.”

Added Kronman, “Meridee has had a successful career, is a dedicated philanthropist, and has been a great friend of the Law School since she graduated—indeed, since the day she walked through the doors.”