Ronald Rettner is a successful entrepreneur, business executive, developer, and visionary advocate of higher education. He earned his undergraduate degree with honors at Washington University in St. Louis and master’s degrees in business administration and urban planning from Columbia University. By night, he attended Fordham Law School; by day, he worked as a securities analyst, co-founded the Vitamin Shoppes, and managed real estate. Under his leadership as director, the Morris B. Rettner Foundation, Inc. has funded scholarships, research, civic projects, and university facilities since 1975. He has served as president of Rettner Management Corporation since 1976 and as managing partner of Baron Associates since 1980. In 2012, Mr. Rettner was named a trustee of the University of Rochester. Among other leadership roles, he served on the National Council of Arts and Sciences for more than 25 years and was named a distinguished alumnus at Washington University in St. Louis, where the Rettner Gallery in the Laboratory Science Building and the Earth Planetary Science Library are named in his honor.