Jack Borgenicht

Jack Borgenicht (1911 to 2005) was an American garment manufacturer, restaurant owner and philanthropist who took up serious mountain climbing late in life. Born Jacob Moses Borgenicht in Manhattan, he began climbing at about the age of 78 with his partner Ken Kambis, a kinesiology professor at the College of William and Mary, and the pair climbed Mount Elbert. On 30 August 1992, at the age of 81, he became the oldest person to climb Mount Rainier, a record he held until 2007. He had further plans to climb Kilimanjaro and Everest. On his death he arranged gifts of several million dollars to the College of William and Mary to fund aging studies and exercise science research and a hypoxia and altitude physiology research facility.