Robert Friedland

Robert Martin Friedland (August 18, 1950) is an international financier and major player in the junior mining industry. Since the early 1980s, he has specialized in securing funding for the exploration and development of mineral and energy resources and advanced technology ventures. He is the founder and Chairman of his private, family-owned firm, Ivanhoe Capital Corporation, which is active in global capital markets and has an established focus on emerging markets. Friedland is the founder of Ivanhoe Mines — a Canadian public company listed on the New York, NASDAQ and Toronto exchanges.

Early life and education

Robert Friedland was born in Chicago, Illinois, the eldest of three children born to immigrant parents Ilona (née Muller) and Albert Friedland. Friedland's father survived three years in Auschwitz while his mother worked as a forced laborer during the Holocaust. He was expelled from Bowdoin College in 1970 after being arrested by federal authorities for the possession of an estimated $100,000 worth of LSD, a crime for which he served two years in federal prison. He graduated in 1974 from Reed College, Oregon, USA, with a political science degree. His senior year at Reed, Friedland was student body president. During his time at Reed he met Steve Jobs the co-founder of Apple, with whom he shared an interest in Eastern spirituality. At the time, Friedland served as the caretaker of an apple farm south of Portland that was owned by his millionaire uncle Marcel Muller and Jobs would come on the weekends and help with the apple orchard, which served as the inspiration for the name of his company, Apple Inc. Friedland turned the orchard into a commune called All One Farm.