Columbia College Press Release

Andrew F. Barth, who was honored as an Outstanding American by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in , a former chair of Capital Guardian Trust Co. and a committed advocate for the sport of wrestling, was honored with the 2025 Alexander Hamilton Medal on Nov. 20 at a black-tie dinner in Low Rotunda. Barth is an emeritus member of the Trustees of Columbia University and co-chair of the University’s Presidential Search Committee.

The medal — given for distinguished service and accomplishment in any field of endeavor — is the highest honor awarded to a member of the Columbia College community, and the Alexander Hamilton Award Dinner is one of the College’s signature fundraising events. This year’s proceeds of more than $1.2 million will benefit College students by supporting the Core Curriculum and financial aid.

Remarks honoring Barth were given by Raymond Yu CC’89, SEAS’90, president of the Columbia College Alumni Association; Dean Josef Sorett; and Acting President Claire Shipman CC’86, SIPA’94. Barth’s wife, Avery, and three of their four children celebrated his achievements alongside previous Hamilton Medal honorees, alumni, faculty, students and other guests.

“Through his generosity and leadership, Andy has helped countless Columbians step into new worlds of possibility, worlds that might otherwise have been out of reach,” Sorett said. “Andy’s life and passions reflect an ongoing dialogue between enduring values and new possibilities, and they are expressions of what the College hopes to instill in every student: the ability to think critically, act decisively and serve responsibly — while making equal space to appreciate the beauty and enriching value of what humans can achieve, in whatever industry or realm life leads them.”

Sorett continued: “We lift Andy up tonight because his story reminds us of what that looks like in practice: the deeper lessons of a Columbia education, translated into a life of purpose and service. He demonstrates that our mission is not confined to a syllabus, a seminar table or even a campus. It lives on through the choices our alumni make, through the communities they build and choose to invest in, and through the vision they bring to the world around them.”

Barth began his career as an equity analyst, joining the Capital Group organization in 1985. He served on the Capital Group Companies Management Committee for five years (2006–2010) and on the Capital Group Companies Fixed Income Management Committee for six years (2009–2014). Now retired, he concluded his career with portfolio management responsibilities in investment-grade credit fixed-income accounts.

A varsity wrestler at the College, Barth was on three Ivy League Championship teams in addition to being named an All-Ivy wrestler and was a captain his senior year. He later competed for the New York Athletic Club and achieved state, regional and international honors.

Barth played a key role in preserving wrestling as an Olympic sport. He received USA Wrestling’s Man of the Year award for 2014; was the Team Leader for the U.S. Men’s Freestyle Wrestling Team for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro; and has been inducted into the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Hall of Fame and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He endowed Columbia’s head wrestling coach position in 2005, and was inducted into the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023.

His civic duties include serving for three years as president of the Board of Governors of the San Marino Unified School District in California; Barth has also been a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Ballet Theater, the American Friends of the Louvre, the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, the California Science Center Foundation, the Huntington Museum, Library and Gardens, Pomona College, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation, Beat the Streets-Los Angeles, and the Board of Overseers for the Columbia Business School.

He received a John Jay Award for distinguished professional achievement in 2011, the International Medical Corporation Global Humanitarian Award the same year, and the Career Transitions for Dancers Outstanding Contributions to Dance Award in 2010.

After receiving the Hamilton Medal, Barth spoke of his passion for wrestling and the power of being part of a team; shared his gratitude for his family; and reflected on Columbia’s influence on his life and career. “It wasn’t just business school that provided an excellent education for the investment management business,” Barth said. “As the saying goes, history doesn’t repeat itself — but it sure does rhyme. To be a successful investor, you have to have an appreciation of history with the ability to understand what is different this time and extrapolate from there.

“The Core Curriculum was an outstanding undergraduate education and made a superior foundation in which to analyze current events,” he continued. “It also allowed me to truly appreciate my classmates and their intellectual capacity, where I observed intelligence without attitude and confidence without pretension. I will make the case that the greatest service that could be done for every high school graduate would be for them to take the Core classes I took — without them, my knowledge and understanding would have remained greatly lacking.”

Barth concluded: “I hope my story rejuvenates your light for Columbia and reminds us what a very special place this can be, and inspires us to help our students, our faculty, our administrators and our staff, to feel the gratitude, loyalty and appreciation that I feel.”