Susan Weber Soros

Susan Weber (born 1954) is an American historian. She is the founder and director of the Bard Graduate Center (BGC) for studies in the decorative arts, design history, and material culture affiliated with Bard College in Dutchess County, New York. She was previously married to George Soros. Early life and education Susan Weber was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the daughter of Iris and Murray Weber. Her father was a manufacturer of shoe accessories; her mother was a housewife. Her father was born in New York City to parents who had emigrated from Russia. Her mother passed on her fondness for the decorative arts. She grew up in the New York City area in a non-observant Jewish household; summing up her upbringing, Weber stated: "We were cultural Jews." She attended an Episcopalian high school in Brooklyn and graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University with a degree in art history. In 1990, she earned a master's degree from Cooper-Hewitt/Parsons. She also studied at the Royal College of Art in London, where she earned her PhD degree (1998) with a thesis on the furniture of E. W. Godwin.