Iris Cantor (née Bazel, February 14, 1931 â February 22, 2026) was an American philanthropist based in New York City and Los Angeles, with a primary interest in medicine and the arts. Cited among the 50 top contributors in the United States, as head of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, her foundation has donated several hundred million dollars to museums, universities, and hospitals from 1978 on.
Born Iris Bazel on February 14, 1931, as the eldest daughter of Fay and Al Bazel, she grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York City. Her mother was born in Pennsylvania and her father was a Jewish Russian immigrant. Her two younger sisters, Enid and Binnie, were born 3 and 10 years later.
Drawn to Manhattan, she worked as a fashion model and stockbroker before eventually being hired by bond brokerage Cantor Fitzgerald around 1967, as an executive secretary. In 1977, she married the firm's founder and majority owner, Bernard Gerald Cantor. It was her third marriage, and lasted nearly 20 years until his death in 1996. By this time, "Bernie" Cantor had amassed a fortune said to have exceeded $500 million, receiving $50 million in annual dividends as of 1995.
Subsequent to his business success, Bernie Cantor became a well-regarded art collector, and most notably had acquired over 750 sculptures and drawings by Auguste Rodin, and many American and European masters' paintings.
In 1978, the year after their union, the Cantors founded the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation as a vehicle for their philanthropy. In 1996, after acrimonious litigation with her husband's successor, Mrs. Cantor sold her inherited 55% stake to the 170 limited partners of Cantor Fitzgerald, and the company agreed to additionally fund the foundation. In 2024, the 501(c)(3) Private Operating Foundation claimed total revenue of $1,503,805 and total assets of $49,052,106.
Over the years, the foundation has donated approximately 450 Rodin pieces to museums around the world, with many going to New York's Metropolitan Museum and Brooklyn Museum, Stanford University, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
In addition to the artworks, the foundation has financed numerous museum and university expansions:
From 1995, she was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum and the Brooklyn Museum, as well as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and North Carolina Museum of Art among others.
She made additional donations to medical facilities and foundations:
Cantor sat on the board of trustees of New York-Presbyterian Hospital from 1989. Iris Cantor's other board memberships included Exploring the Arts and the dean's committee of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
In 2011, Cantor sold the 34,000 square foot Bel-Air, California mansion that Bernie built for her, for a reported $40 million.
Cantor died on February 22, 2026, at the age of 95.
Cantor received awards and honorary degrees, including a National Medal of Arts awarded by President Bill Clinton in 1995. For her work promoting appreciation for the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, she was made a Knight in France's Legion of Honour in 2000; upgraded to an Officer on 20 March 2017.