Paul Royalty Funds
Managing Partner
CLASS OF 1962
Dr.Walter Flamenbaum found out about Washington & Jefferson College from a W&J graduate, whose roommate at the University of Pennsylvania Law School was dating his sister. “In all of the times I have spoken with people, I have never come across somebody who was so enthusiastic about a college, never mind so enthusiastic as to spend the better part of an afternoon telling me all about the quality of life at W&J,” says Flamenbaum. “The next day he asked me if I was going to apply and I said, ‘You know something? I have to because of your enthusiasm.’”
While at W&J, Flamenbaum met many professors and administrators who influenced him in a positive way. The faculty member that made Flamenbaum feel most at home and welcome in a strange place was Professor Arthur Jay Sachs. “He was the first professor who invited me to his house for dinner,” he says. “And then I realized that professors had wives and kids and they ate and probably had other regular family functions. That wasn’t necessarily part of what you always thought about professors.”
As college continued, Flamenbaum had trouble deciding what his major should be. He still isn’t completely sure what his degree is. “It could have been history or political science, but I initially went to W&J wanting to be a pre-med major,” Flamenbaum says. “I think I graduated with a ‘biology-chemistry degree.’” However, Flamenbaum had no doubts that he wanted to be a medical doctor, so he went to medical school and, according to him, “the rest is history.”
After practicing medicine until 1991, Flamenbaum went into what he calls the business of medicine. He now is a managing partner for the Paul Royalty Fund, one of the largest dedicated healthcare funds globally, with approximately $1 billion in equity capital commitments. In this job, he learns new things every day—a talent he picked up at W&J. “At W&J, I learned how to learn,” Flamenbaum says.
