Since graduating from Yale University, he has worked as a stockbroker on Wall Street, first at A.G. Becker & Co. then, in 1968, he founded his own firm, now known as Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC.. He is also Trustee Emeritus and former Chairman of the Manhattan Institute; Trustee of the American Museum of Natural History; the New-York Historical Society; and The Thomas Jefferson Foundation. He is also a co-founder and co-chairman of the Club for Growth.Co-founder of the Lincoln Prize and The Frederick Douglass Book Award.

In 1974 he founded the Central Park Community Fund and, in 1980, became a founding and continuing trustee of the Central Park Conservancy. He is the recipient of honorary degrees from Gettysburg College, St. John’s University, and the Yale Medal.

Yale University 1954 (B.A., History)