“He was like the company: always on the go, always having a new idea, a new way of looking at things,” Director says.

While he championed rollups as an efficient structure at the time, Ledecky concedes that their time may have passed.

“Rollups was a phase, and it’s kind of faded away,” he says. “It’s not something the marketplace is doing much of anymore—its track record has been mixed at best.”

At the very least, the rollup phase is over for Ledecky. Instead, he’s turned his attention to philanthropy—and sports.

IN THE COMMUNITY

After finishing with U.S. Office Products, Ledecky founded the Ledecky Foundation, which, he says, has “become my life’s work and what I’m really proudest of.”

Through the foundation, Ledecky has become a prominent philanthropist in the Washington, D.C. area.

In his 25th reunion class report, Ledecky relates how he first became interested in philanthropy. The grandfather of Scott D. Malkin ’80, Ledecky’s upperclass roommate, told Ledecky as a first-year that he wished he had given away his money earlier, so he could see the fruits of his philanthropy. Ledecky writes that he has taken that advice to heart.

Giving away his money, Ledecky says, “is God’s work in a way for me. I think I went through a lot of good stuff, a lot of bad stuff. This last time through I really kind of found myself.”

Ledecky, who is single and has no family, has embraced his communities instead.

“The time that I have free, because I don’t have a family, I try to spend in the community,” he says. “The New York and Washington communities have become family.”

Director says Ledecky has always been involved in the community and committed to education.

“As long as I’ve known him, he’s certainly been active in nonprofit and charitable activities, giving of his own time, giving money when he had it,” Director says. “He feels pretty strongly that it’s important to give back to the communities that have given to him.”

Ledecky has also contributed to the Harvard community, funding the Berta Greenwald Ledecky journalism fellowships for Harvard undergraduates who write for Harvard Magazine.

And Ledecky has begun devoting personal time to his philanthropy, spending a day a week at the George Jackson Academy in New York, a private school that opened this fall and aims to educate low-income city children in a safe environment.