Background
Betts, the son of an investment banker for the Vincent Astor Foundation, grew up in Syosset, Long Island.
Betts, the son of an investment banker for the Vincent Astor Foundation, grew up in Syosset, Long Island.
Yale University; Columbia Law School.
He is a graduate of Saint Paul"s School ("64), Yale ("68) and Columbia Law School ("78). Roland and Lois Betts celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in 2012. They have two daughters, Margaret and Jessica.
In 1978 Betts wrote Acting Out: Coping with Big City Schools, a book which explores his experiences in the public school system.
After graduating from Columbia Law School in 1978, he practiced law in the entertainment department at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison until leaving to finance movies. In 1980 he was named the President of International Film Investors, Incorporated., which produced and financed movies like Gandhi and The Killing Fields.
The Texas Rangers were purchased in 1989 by a group of investors assembled by Roland West. Betts and George West. Bush. Foreign nine years, Betts was lead owner of the Texas Rangers Baseball Club.
Mr. Betts has recently been appointed as a Trustee and Treasurer of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
From 2001 to 2006 Betts was one of George Pataki"s appointments to the Board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. In that capacity, Mr. Betts chaired the Site Committee charged with the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site.
Roland West. Betts was also a heavy contributor to the Bush election campaign in 2000, helping raise more than $100,000 to that campaign, also putting down about $50,000 for the Bush Inauguration celebration.
Bush has been seen visiting the Betts" at their vacation homes in Jackson Hole and Santa Fe.
Betts was the Senior Fellow of the Yale Corporation, an advisory board member of Yale School of Management, and is a Trustee of numerous organizations including: the American Museum of Natural History, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Columbia University Law School, and the National Park Foundation.