and his family on the passing of his father, Donald M. Blinken.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with them right now," the Cabinet member expressed via his Twitter account on Friday.
A native New Yorker, the late
Ambassador's career blended leadership in investment banking, education, and arts patronage.
Blinken co-founded the investment banking/venture capital firm of E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co. in 1966.
Similarly, Ambassador Blinken was named President of the Mark Rothko Foundation in 1976.
Furthermore, he became Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York from 1978 to 1990.
He also served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Hungary from March 1994 to November 1997.
According to the
New York Times, Donald M. Blinken died at his home in East Hampton last Thursday. He was 96.