Serge Semenenko

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Serge Semenenko (1903 – April 24, 1980) was a Russian-born member of the White Russian émigré community who built a banking and entertainment career in the United States. Born in Odessa on August 26, 1903, he fled with his family to Constantinople at age 18. In Istanbul he studied at Classical College and Robert College, graduating with a GPA of 8.5 out of 10. He moved to the United States to study at Harvard Business School. In the 1950s and 1960s he found success as a Hollywood banker through his work with the First National Bank of Boston. In 1956 he helped form a group of investors to buy out Warner Bros. Pictures shares from the Warners, and he later joined the Warner Bros. board. He pushed the company to create a recorded music division, which became Warner Bros. Records in 1958. Semenenko was also a generous philanthropist; his most famous gift was a Park Avenue mansion donated in 1958 to the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. In 1963 he organized a syndicate of six banks to help the Curtis Publishing Company. In 1967 he resigned as vice-chairman and director of First Boston after a Wall Street Journal article scrutinized his activities. He died on April 24, 1980.