- Director's Office
Alex Dreyfoos (1932–2023) was chairman and owner of The Dreyfoos Group, a private capital management firm evolved from the success of Photo Electronics Corporation (which he started in the basement of his home in 1963), and the sale of his controlling interest in the CBS TV affiliate in West Palm Beach, Florida (which he owned for 23 years until 1996), and the Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach Shores (which he owned for 26 years until 2004). A graduate of MIT, Dreyfoos held 10 US and numerous foreign patents and was the recipient of an Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He led the 15-year effort to build the US $58 million Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, which opened debt-free in 1992. He was a lifetime trustee of MIT, and a board member of The Scripps Research Institute. In December 2012 he was elected a Trustee of the recently opened Max Planck Institute in Jupiter, Florida.