Barre Seid (born 1932) is an American businessman from Chicago. He was the owner of Tripp Lite, an electrical products manufacturer, for many decades. Seid donated his company holdings to Marble Freedom Trust, in a gift compared to that of Patagonia-founder Yvon Chouinard's US$ 3 billion creation of a climate change non-government organization.[1][2] Seid's recipient Trust has been described as a funder of conservative causes,[not verified in body] and it sold Tripp Lite to Irish conglomerate, Eaton for US$ 1.6 billion in 2021.[2][3][4][5]
Seid was born in 1932 to Reuben and Anne Seid, who were Russian Jewish immigrants. He grew up on the South Side of Chicago.[5] Seid has two brothers.[5] Seid attended the University of Chicago under a special bachelor's degree program.[5]
Career
After attending college, Seid served for two years in the U.S. Army. He then returned to Chicago to take a job as an assistant to investor and businessman Graham Trippe, owner of Trippe Manufacturing.[5]
In the mid-1960s, Seid became president of Trippe Manufacturing, an electrical products manufacturer that later became known as Tripp Lite. He held that position for more than 50 years. Seid owned 100% of the company.[5]
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Seid is reported by one source to have given at least $775 million in charitable donations between 1996 and 2018.[5] Philanthropic gifts from Seid have been both public and private, the public inbcluding those made through the Barbara and Barre Seid Foundation,[4] but with many more reportedly having been made anonymously.[7]
Seid's donation of his holdings in Tripp Lite in 2020, at the time valued at US$ 1.6 billion, to the Marble Freedom Trust—a new conservative "dark money" group led by Leonard Leo[neutrality is disputed]—was called the largest single known contribution to a politically-focused nonprofit as of 2022.[4] The gift has been compared to the donation, by Yvon Chouinard—billionaire founder of outdoor clothing and supply company, Patagonia—and his family, of their ownership (all of their voting stock), valued at ca. US$ 3 billion, to a "specially designed trust and a nonprofit organization" that has been established "to combat climate change and protect undeveloped land around the globe".[1][2]
Political
Seid opposed the ban of DDT and funded activists and researchers who opposed the ban.[7] Seid's giving reflects his belief that global warming is not the result of human emissions.[7] According to ProPublica, Seid appears to have given $17 million to fund the distribution of the documentary film Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West during the 2008 presidential campaign.[5] In 2008, the Clarion Fund sent out the film, on DVD, to 28 million houses and religious institutions.[8] He has donated to the University of Chicago's Becker Friedman Institute for Economics and the Heartland Institute.[5]
In 2020, Seid donated all Tripp Lite stock to the newly created nonprofit group Marble Freedom Trust headed by Leonard Leo, a conservative legal activist. In March 2021, Marble Freedom Trust sold it to the Eaton Corporation for $1.65 billion.[5][3] The donation was made anonymously, but Seid's identity was first confirmed by The New York Times based on public financial disclosures.[4][3]The New York Times described the donation as "among the largest single contributions ever to a politically focused nonprofit."[3]
Educational
Seid is a benefactor of Hillsdale College.[7] According to ProPublica, activists have suspected that Seid is the anonymous donor who gave $20 million to have the George Mason University School of Law renamed the Antonin Scalia Law School. ProPublica confirmed this with emails received through a public records request.[7]
From 2007 to 2008, Seid gave $825,000 to Shimer College as an anonymous donor through his foundation.[9] His donation was later made public by a former student who examined tax filings.[10][11] In January 2009, Thomas Lindsay became president of the school, with goals to increase the school's name recognition and build its board of trustees.[9] Through 2009, Lindsay increased the 22-member board by 13 members, with many having financial ties to Seid.[9] Many of the new board members shared conservative political affiliations, leading some alumni, students, and faculty to argue that the school was undergoing a "right-wing attempt to take over its board and administration."[10][12] In 2010, Lindsay moved to rewrite the school's mission statement, though he was faced with overwhelming opposition by the school's assembly of faculty, staff, and students.[9] The trustees adopted the redrafted statement in February, but by April, the trustees voted 18 to 16 to dismiss Lindsay from the presidency.[9][11]
Personal life
Seid was married to Adrienne Gruber Seid. In 1976, he established the Adrienne Gruber Seid Memorial Scholarship at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in memory of his late wife, who was a student there in the early 1960s.[13] Seid is married to Barbara Landis.[14][15] Since 2005, Landis is the general and artistic director of Chamber Opera Chicago, which was founded by Seid.[16]
1 2 Gelles, David (September 21, 2022) [September 14, 2022]. "Billionaire No More: Patagonia Founder Gives Away the Company". The New York Times (NYTimes.com). Retrieved July 28, 2025. Yvon Chouinard, the eccentric rock climber who became a reluctant billionaire with his unconventional spin oncapitalism, has given the company away. Rather than selling the company or taking it public, Mr. Chouinard, his wife and two adult children have transferred their ownership of Patagonia, valued at about $3 billion... ...irrevocably transferred all the company's voting stock into a newly established entity known as the Patagonia Purpose Trust in August.
1 2 3 Woehrle, Christopher P. (January 23, 2023). "IRC Section 501(c)(4) Social Welfare Organizations: An Ideal Vehicle for Grantmaking?". Wealth Management (WealthManagement.com). Retrieved July 28, 2025. Christopher P. Woehrle, Professor and Chair, Department of Tax and Estate Planning, College for Financial Planning [a for-profit academic institution] ... there's no requirement that a Section 501(c)(4) organization keep the shares in a business. When 90-year-old and childless Barre Seid transferred his electronics company, Trippe Lite, to the Marble Freedom Trust (Trust), he was trying to answer "how to steer history." The purpose of the Trust is maintenance and expansion of human freedom consistent with the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. The shares were soon sold for $1.6 billion to Eaton Corporation, an Irish conglomerate. As Seid was advised by a global law firm, the issue of a constructive sale of the heavily appreciated stock was presumably successfully addressed. / Clear Sailing Ahead? / The Chourod [sic., Chouinard] and Seid contributions show how the Section 501(c)(4) organization can handle successfully a gift of a privately held business.
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