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Billionaire David Rubenstein and his wife, Alice Rogoff, divorce

December 8, 2017 at 2:16 p.m. EST
David M. Rubenstein and his wife, Alice Rogoff, at the 2016 Kennedy Center Honors at the Kennedy Center. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

After months of rumors, the marriage of billionaire philanthropists David Rubenstein and Alice Rogoff has officially ended.

The couple, who married in 1983, was granted a divorce in Montgomery County on Friday morning. All financial and other terms were settled privately and will remain confidential, according to Rubenstein’s lawyer, Sandy Ain, and Rogoff’s lawyer, Linda Ravdin.

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“Alice and David Rubenstein have decided to formalize a divorce following a lengthy separation,” Ain said in a statement on behalf of the couple. “The parties continue in support of one another and their respective endeavors. They are and continue to be devoted parents and their love and respect for their family is most important to each of them. They wish each other nothing but the best.”

Ain said the two would have no further comment.

According to the court filing, the couple separated in 2005. Publicly, the two lived largely separate lives but appeared together periodically on behalf of their philanthropic projects, such as the Kennedy Center and other institutions, and formal events, such as a state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015. The Rubensteins never discussed their marriage in public. The most Rogoff ever revealed was saying, “It’s complicated” in 2014.

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Rubenstein, 68, is co-founder of the private equity firm the Carlyle Group, chairman of the Kennedy Center and head of the board of the Smithsonian Institution. He is one of the most visible philanthropists in Washington, giving millions to the Kennedy Center, the National Archives and a number of universities. He has signed the Giving Pledge and says that he plans to donate the bulk of his fortune — estimated at $2.8 billion — to charitable causes.

Rogoff, 66, most recently published the Anchorage Daily News in Alaska, where she has lived for several years.

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After living apart for years, rumors of a divorce intensified this summer after Rogoff referred to a “marital settlement agreement” in court documents for her newspaper’s bankruptcy proceedings. It turned out that the agreement had been in place for several years, and it is not clear why the couple decided to formalize their divorce at this time.

The couple has three grown children.