Howard Lutnick, Haverford College’s largest donor, is confirmed as Trump’s secretary of commerce

Billionaire Howard Lutnick, Haverford College’s largest donor, was confirmed Tuesday night by the U.S. Senate to serve as President Donald Trump’s secretary of commerce.

Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a Wall Street financial services firm, will lead the United States’ top agency for spurring economic and job growth.

As the Senate continues its confirmation of Trump’s cabinet picks, Lutnick, who has led Canter Fitzgerald since 1991, has garnered less controversy than some of the other nominees. But his confirmation still fell along party lines with a vote of 51-45.

Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) voted against Lutnick Tuesday after supporting him in a procedural vote earlier this month. The senator did not immediately comment on the reversal. Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) joined other Republicans in supporting the president’s pick.

Lutnick, 63, is a close associate of Trump’s and was tasked with cochairing the president’s transition team and vetting appointees for his second term — with an emphasis on loyalty. The executive became a major financial backer of Trump’s 2024 bid, donating more than $10 million and raising millions more from other donors, and was an early proponent of the Department of Government Efficiency.

During his confirmation hearing, Lutnick said he would divest all of his business interests within 90 days of his confirmation.

The billionaire said in an interview with The Inquirer in October that he would not be where is he now without Haverford College, where he studied economics and has since left his financial imprint all over campus. The library is named after him; the Douglas B. Gardner Integrated Athletic Center is named after his best friend; and art exhibits can be found in the Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery.

A Long Island native, he arrived on the Main Line as a Division III tennis recruit. His mother had died of breast cancer roughly a year earlier and his father was battling lung cancer. The hospital accidentally gave Lutnick’s father a high dose of chemotherapy medication meant for another patient, proving lethal to the senior Lutnick.

As the tragedies reached a fever pitch, Lutnick’s time at Haverford almost ended a few days into his freshman year, until the college’s president called Lutnick and told him his tuition would be taken care of by the school.

After graduating in 1983, Lutnick was a member and eventually chair of the school’s board of managers. Recently, the billionaire has weighed in on Haverford’s response to on-campus demonstrations amid the Israel-Hamas war. Lutnick, an avid supporter of Israel, thought the college could have done more to address the protests.

“When you’re going through hell, who takes care of you, it goes in your soul,” Lutnick said in 2024. “Ultimately, I ended up having the life my father wanted me to have,” he added.