Rex Sinquefield

Sinquefield had 18 cleft palate operations before age five.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stlmag.com/The-Return-of-the-King/|title=The Return of the King|last=Cooperman|first=Jeannette|date=2009-06-23|website=www.stlmag.com|language=en-us|access-date=2019-03-14}} His father died when he was five years old. Sinquefield and his brother were placed in a local Catholic orphanage, the Saint Vincent Home for Children in St. Louis, Missouri.[http://www.rexsinquefield.org/about-rex-sinquefield/ Rex Sinquefield biography.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180908005433/http://www.rexsinquefield.org/about-rex-sinquefield/ |date=September 8, 2018 }} Retrieved October 29, 2013. Sinquefield told the BBC that the school's regimentation taught him self-discipline.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36257742|title=Creating the world's new chess capital|last=Edmonds|first=David|date=2016-05-12|access-date=2019-03-14|language=en-GB}} When they were teenagers, Sinquefield and his brother returned home to live with their mother.{{Cite web|url=https://www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-rex-sinquefield-missouri.html|title=Rex Sinquefield: The Tyrannosaurus Rex of State Politics|website=www.governing.com|date=May 20, 2015|language=en|access-date=2019-09-06}}

He graduated from Bishop DuBourg High School in 1962.[http://www.bishopdubourg.org/db/db-alumni/ DB Alumni.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120807012724/http://www.bishopdubourg.org/db/db-alumni/ |date=August 7, 2012 }} Retrieved October 29, 2013. He studied to be a priest at the Diocesan Seminary at Cardinal Glennon College in St. Louis.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ifa.com/articles/An_Interview_with_Rex_Sinquefield/|title=An Interview with Rex Sinquefield|website=www.ifa.com|language=en|access-date=2019-03-14}} During the Vietnam War, he served as what he described as a "high-end gopher" in the finance corps at Fort Riley. He majored in business for his undergraduate degree from Saint Louis University and received an MBA from University of Chicago.

Sinquefield worked at the American National Bank of Chicago, developing, in 1973, the first S&P 500 passively managed index fund.{{Cite web |date=2012-03-30 |title=Rex Sinquefield's Crusade Against Income Taxes - Businessweek |url=http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-29/rex-sinquefields-crusade-against-income-taxes |access-date=2024-09-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330222645/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-29/rex-sinquefields-crusade-against-income-taxes |archive-date=March 30, 2012 }} Due to high transaction costs at the time and low-liquidity for many smaller company stocks, Sinquefield did not initially buy all 500 stocks listed in the S&P 500, but he was able to nonetheless closely track the index. After seven years, the fund managed $12 billion.

In May 1974, in the depths of the worst bear market since the 1930s, Sinquefield and Roger Ibbotson made a brash prediction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average, floundering in the 800s at the time, would hit 9,218 in 1998 and 10,000 by November 1999. Their prediction proved largely accurate.

In 1981, Sinquefield and another University of Chicago teaching assistant, David G. Booth, co-founded Dimensional Fund Advisors, the first passive fund focused on small (microcap) companies customarily ignored in large institutional portfolios of the era. As of June 30, 2018, it managed more than $582 billion in assets.[https://us.dimensional.com/ Dimensional Fund Advisors.] Retrieved September 19, 2018.

With Yale School of Management professor Roger G. Ibbotson, he co-wrote the 1989 book Stocks, Bonds, Bills and Inflation, a study of stock market returns.{{cite book|last1=Ibbotson|first1=Roger G.|url=https://archive.org/details/stocksbondsbills00roge|title=Stocks, Bonds, Bills and Inflation: Historical Returns (Stocks, Bonds, Bills & Inflation Yearbook) (9781556231407): Roger G. Ibbotson, Rex Sinquefield: Books|last2=Sinquefield|first2=Rex A.|date=September 9, 2009|publisher=Research Foundation of the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts |isbn=978-1556231407|url-access=registration}}

Dimensional Fund Advisors' investment strategy has been said to create an optimal portfolio consisting of various funds that emulate the different style and size attributes of various securities markets worldwide so that one fund might behave like the S&P 500, another might correlate with just the value stocks in the S&P 500, while a third might emulate the performance of all small-cap stocks. Sinquefield is a proponent of passive investment, meaning that he believes you simply cannot beat the market.

In 2005, he retired from DFA because he was “bored” and returned to St. Louis, where he became involved in politics and philanthropy.

In 2024, DFA funded an Errol Morris documentary about Sinquefield and Booth.{{Cite web |last=Phillips |first=Nicholas |date=2025-04-08 |title=New Errol Morris Film Shows How Sinquefield Made His Millions {{!}} St. Louis Magazine |url=https://www.stlmag.com/business/errol-morris-film-rex-sinquefield/ |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=www.stlmag.com |language=en-US}}

Sinquefield is one of the top right-wing political funders in the country, and the single top political spender in Missouri, having spent at least $31.5 million between 2006 and 2014, Brendan Fischer, general counsel of the Center for Media and Democracy, wrote in 2014.{{Cite web |date=2014-04-29 |title=New Reporters' Guide Documents Rex Sinquefield's Effort to Railroad Personal Agenda through Missouri State House |url=https://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/04/12458/new-reporters-guide-documents-rex-sinquefields-effort-railroad-personal-agenda |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=PR Watch |language=en}} Sinquefield has contributed toward measures to dismantle teacher tenure, enact water privatization and right-to-work, privatize the St. Louis Lambert International Airport, merge St. Louis City and St. Louis County, and expand charter schools.{{Cite news |last=OShea |first=Devin Thomas |date=2021-04-14 |title=Libertarian Rex |url=https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2021/04/libertarian-rex |access-date=2025-04-09 |work=Current Affairs |language=en |issn=2471-2647}}

On his return to St. Louis, Sinquefield co-founded the Show-Me Institute with R. Crosby Kemper III, a Kansas City banker. Based in Clayton, Show-Me is a think tank that commissions studies on public-policy issues. It has been labeled libertarian,{{cite web|url=http://archive.archcitychronicle.com/blog_detail.php?entry_id=3260|title=Arch City Chronicle|date=June 9, 2008|publisher=Archive.archcitychronicle.com|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707155206/http://archive.archcitychronicle.com/blog_detail.php?entry_id=3260|archivedate=July 7, 2011|url-status=dead|accessdate=September 28, 2010|df=mdy-all}}{{cite web|url=http://volokh.com/posts/1193175349.shtml|title=The Volokh Conspiracy – Eminent Domain in Missouri|date=|publisher=Volokh.com|accessdate=September 28, 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2008/07/rex_sinquefields_chess_mecca_i.php|title=Rex Sinquefield's Chess Mecca in the CWE – St. Louis News – Daily RFT|last=Finkel|first=Tom|date=July 17, 2008|publisher=Blogs.riverfronttimes.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727191437/http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2008/07/rex_sinquefields_chess_mecca_i.php|archive-date=July 27, 2011|url-status=dead|accessdate=September 28, 2010|df=mdy-all}} conservative,[http://www.showmedaily.org/2008/11/slate-links-to-smi.html Slate Links to Show-Me Institute Study, Show-Me Daily, 2008-11-14, accessed 2009-3-25]{{Cite web|url=http://www.gavelgrab.org/?cat=11|title="Mississippi Calls for Refore", GavelGrab, 2008-8-11, accessed 2009-3-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801025546/http://www.gavelgrab.org/?cat=11|archive-date=August 1, 2009|url-status=dead|access-date=March 25, 2009|df=mdy-all}} and free-market.{{cite web|url=http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/political-fix/political-fix/2008/04/tax-break-for-aircraft-firm-flies-through-house/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20081012051710/http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/political-fix/political-fix/2008/04/tax-break-for-aircraft-firm-flies-through-house/|archive-date=October 12, 2008|url-status=dead|access-date=September 7, 2016|title=Tax break for aircraft firm flies through House}} He is president of the institute, whose motto is “Advancing liberty with responsibility by promoting market solutions for Missouri public policy.”

Show-Me has successfully lobbied for a cable franchise reform bill and HB 818, which made Missouri the first state to let employers contribute pretax dollars to employees' health-savings accounts. Show-Me has also opposed governments' use of eminent domain.

Sinquefield began giving money to Missouri politicians of both political parties after the state legislature eliminated campaign-finance limits in 2009,[http://powerplayers.stlbeacon.org/donors/rex-sinquefield-i/ Power Players: Missouri's 17 largest political donors from 2008 to 2013.] Retrieved October 29, 2013 and by 2015, had given money to "big majorities" of lawmakers in both houses of the Missouri legislature.{{cite news|last1=Greenblatt|first1=Alan|title=Rex Sinquefield: The Tyrannosaurus Rex of State Politics|url=http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-rex-sinquefield-missouri.html|accessdate=June 21, 2015|publisher=Governing Magazine|date=June 2015}} He has particularly focused on altering public education, tax reform, and accountability in government.{{cite web|url=http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/king-rex-sinquefield-108015|title=King Rex|work=POLITICO Magazine|access-date=December 30, 2015}}

He donated $1 million to Republican Bev Randles' 2016 campaign for lieutenant governor of Missouri{{cite web|url=http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/kevin-mcdermott/missouri-s-big-money-man-gives-million-to-lieutenant-governor/article_d035a976-624d-594a-b86a-c7074cd35b1f.html|title=Missouri's big money man gives $1 million to 2016 lieutenant governor candidate|author=Lee Enterprises|work=stltoday.com|date=December 9, 2014 |accessdate=December 30, 2015}} and some $750,000 to Kurt Schaefer, a Republican candidate for attorney general.{{cite web|url=http://www.progressmissouri.org/schaefer-has-sinquefields-backand-money|title=Schaefer Has Sinquefield's Back...and Money|accessdate=December 30, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104215543/http://www.progressmissouri.org/schaefer-has-sinquefields-backand-money|archive-date=January 4, 2016|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} Both candidates lost.

Sinquefield has also donated to Missouri candidates Shane Schoeller, Chris Koster, and Sarah Steelman, as well as to the 2016 gubernatorial campaign of Catherine Hanaway.{{cite web | last=Hudnall | first=David | title=Republican Catherine Hanaway gets another $278,000 from Missouri mega donor Rex Sinquefield | website=The Kansas City Star | date=14 June 2016 | url=https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article83649927.html | access-date=18 July 2023}} (subscription required)

In 2014, he supported a ballot initiative to abolish teacher tenure in Missouri. He is a major funder of right-wing groups and PACs, such as Pelopidas, LLC.{{Cite web |date=April 29, 2014 |title=A Reporters' Guide to Rex Sinquefield and the Show-Me Institute |url=https://www.prwatch.org/files/reporters_guide_to_rex_sinquefield_0.pdf |access-date=September 19, 2024 |website=Center for Media and Democracy}}

In 2019, Sinquefield was found to be among the dark money donors behind a failed 2018 medical cannabis initiative.{{Cite web |last=Suntrup |first=Jack |date=2020-01-11 |title=Sinquefields among dark-money donors to group that backed medical marijuana question |url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/marijuana/sinquefields-among-dark-money-donors-to-group-that-backed-medical/article_da0ddfbe-ba6c-5eac-9915-d8874301f5d3.html |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=STLtoday.com |language=en}}

Sinquefield and his wife Jeanne gave money to Senator Josh Hawley's campaign in 2020.{{cite web|url=https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202104159443588292|title=FEC Contribution Records|accessdate= April 22, 2021}} Sinquefield also donated to Mike Parson that year.{{Cite web |last=Hancock |first=Jason |date=January 5, 2022 |title=After quiet year, Rex Sinquefield donations start flowing in Missouri again |url=https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/after-quiet-year-rex-sinquefield-donations-start-flowing-in-missouri-again/ |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=Missouri Independent |language=en-US}}

In 2021, Sinquefield donated $250,000 to two campaigns: Scott Fitzpatrick's bid for state auditor and Mike Kehoe's prospective candidacy for governor in 2024.

Sinquefield has long tried to change tax policy in Missouri, particularly in ways that would reduce his taxes and raise those of lower earners. He advocates eliminating the state's income tax and replacing it with a more comprehensive sales tax. He advocates replacing Missouri's and Kansas' income tax with a state sales tax on things like childcare, restaurants, and hotels.

Sinquefield also gave money to the group Kansans for No Income Tax which helped governor Sam Brownback lower the state income tax in 2012.{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203897404578078551936968168|title=The Weekend Interview with Rex Sinquefield: Meet One of the Super-PAC Men|last=Riley|first=Naomi Schaefer|date=October 26, 2012|work=WSJ|accessdate=December 30, 2015|url-access=subscription }} Dubbed the Kansas experiment, this policy decreased state revenues by hundreds of millions of dollars;{{cite news|url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-kansas-experiment-is-bad-news-for-trumps-tax-cuts/|title=The Kansas Experiment Is Bad News For Trump's Tax Cuts|last1=Casselman|first1=Ben|date=June 9, 2017|work=FiveThirtyEight|accessdate=October 4, 2017|last2=Koerth-Baker|first2=Maggie|last3=Barry-Jester|first3=Anna Maria|last4=Cheng|first4=Michelle}} caused spending on roads, bridges, and education to be slashed;[http://cjonline.com/news-state-government-local-state/2016-05-02/kansas-legislature-approves-budget-deal-after-lawmakers "Kansas Legislature approves budget deal, after lawmakers deliver blistering critiques of state finances,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171004034640/http://cjonline.com/news-state-government-local-state/2016-05-02/kansas-legislature-approves-budget-deal-after-lawmakers|date=October 4, 2017}} May 2, 2016, Topeka Capital-Journal[https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/the-republican-blowback-against-sam-brownback-kansas/517641/ "Kansas Republicans Sour on Their Tax-Cut Experiment"] February 24, 2017, The Atlantic and failed to lift Kansas' below-average economic growth.{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2017/06/07/the-great-kansas-tax-cut-experiment-crashes-and-burns/#347b63e75508|title=The Great Kansas Tax Cut Experiment Crashes And Burns|last1=Gleckman|first1=Howard|date=7 June 2017|accessdate=20 November 2018|agency=Forbes}} In 2017, the Republican-controlled Legislature of Kansas voted to roll back the cuts and overrode Brownback's veto.{{cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/kansass-conservative-tax-experiment-is-dead/529551/|title=The Death of Kansas's Conservative Experiment|last=Berman|first=Russell|date=June 7, 2017|work=The Atlantic|access-date=June 7, 2017}}

Sinquefield also has repeatedly backed measures to repeal the earnings taxes of St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri.{{Cite web|url=http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/yael-t-abouhalkah/article67734092.html|title=Yael T. Abouhalkah: Earnings tax opponents have lots of money — but little else|website=kansascity|access-date=April 10, 2016}}

He is the primary financial supporter of the Let Voters Decide committee.[https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/17271/sinquefield_to_seek_measure_ending_missouris_income_tax Sinquefield, allies to seek ballot proposal ending Missouri's income tax.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101000645/https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/17271/sinquefield_to_seek_measure_ending_missouris_income_tax |date=November 1, 2013 }} January 6, 2011. In 2010, the committee placed a statewide initiative on the Missouri ballot. Called Proposition A, it would prevent all Missouri communities except Kansas City and St. Louis from imposing earnings taxes. It would also allow Kansas City and St. Louis voters to vote on whether to retain their earnings taxes. Missourians passed proposition A with a large margin – 68.4% YES / 31.6% NO (1,294,911 YES votes to 598,010 NO votes).{{cite web|url=http://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/raceresults.asp?eid=300&oid=67794&arc=|title=Missouri Secretary of State|publisher=|accessdate=December 30, 2015}}

On January 5, 2011, Let Voters Decide submitted nine initiative petitions to the Missouri Secretary of State calling for a repeal of the state's income tax – with a top rate of six percent. The petitions also called for a higher sales tax, capped at seven percent, that would be applied to virtually any good or service transaction involving individuals. Sinquefield and Let Voters Decide President Travis Brown say that replacing the income tax with a sales tax would help create jobs, promote economic development and make state revenue collection less volatile.[https://archive.today/20120723014103/http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2011/01/08/group-seeks-swap-state-income-tax-sales-tax/ "Group seeks to swap state income tax for sales tax"] In 2014, Missouri lowered its income tax rate.{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbrown/2014/05/09/missouri-legislature-overrides-veto-joins-midwest-tax-cut-movement/#27c91ce33329|title=It Took Missouri's Lawmakers 93 Years to Take a Very Positive Leap|website=Forbes}}

Sinquefield supported the successful effort to return local control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to the City of St. Louis.{{cite web|url=http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/political-fix/article_9c9d2e56-2409-11e0-a3ac-0017a4a78c22.html|title=House committee passes local control measure; Sinquefield backs it|author=Lee Enterprises|work=stltoday.com|date=January 19, 2011 |accessdate=December 30, 2015}} Since 1861, the police department had been run by a five-person board that included four gubernatorial appointees.{{cite web|url=http://www.semissourian.com/story/1702653.html|title=seMissourian.com: Opinion Column: Why you should care about who controls the St. Louis Police Department (02/14/11)|work=seMissourian.com|accessdate=December 30, 2015}}

Sinquefield donated $300,000 to "A Safer Missouri", a group supporting the campaign for local control.{{cite web|url=http://www.news-leader.com/article/20110124/NEWS06/101240338/Group-pushes-local-control-police-department?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CSpecial%20Reports%7Cs|title=Politics & Government - Springfield News-Leader - news-leader.com|work=Springfield News-Leader|accessdate=December 30, 2015}} A Safer Missouri endorsed state legislation in favor of local control, along with a ballot initiative filed with the Missouri Secretary of State, which will be pursued if the legislative efforts fail, according to a spokeswoman for A Safer Missouri.[http://www.stlbeacon.org/region/107692-sinquefields-latest-cause-local-control-for-st-louis-police- "Sinquefield's latest cause: Local control for St. Louis Police"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718060454/http://www.stlbeacon.org/region/107692-sinquefields-latest-cause-local-control-for-st-louis-police- |date=July 18, 2011 }} The ballot initiative was filed and entitled Proposition A.{{cite web|url=http://www.safermissouri.com/|title=Missouri Proposition A 2012 - The Local Control Initiative|publisher=|accessdate=December 30, 2015}}

Local control, the Proposition A ballot initiative, received broad support,{{cite web|url=http://www.safermissouri.com/broad-support-for-local-control/|title=Broad Support - A Safer Missouri - Missouri Proposition A 2012 - The Local Control Initiative|publisher=|accessdate=December 30, 2015}} including St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, and the Missouri Democratic Party{{cite web|url=http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/02/13/missouri-democrats-call-for-local-control-of-stlpd/|title=Missouri Democrats Call for Local Control of STLPD|publisher=|accessdate=December 30, 2015|archive-date=March 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305164405/http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/02/13/missouri-democrats-call-for-local-control-of-stlpd/|url-status=dead}} On February 22, 2011, the House of Representatives passed House Bill 71, the local measure in that body, by a vote of 109–46.[http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Missouri-House-passes-bill-for-St-Louis-police-control-116707584.html "House committee passes local control measure; Sinquefield backs it"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713161915/http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Missouri-House-passes-bill-for-St-Louis-police-control-116707584.html |date=July 13, 2011 }} The bill went on the Senate, Senate Bill 23, which failed. Thus the ballot initiative was filed and on November 6, 2012, Proposition A passed with 63.9% to 36.1%.[http://enr.sos.mo.gov/ENR/Views/TabularData.aspx?TabView=StateRaces^Federal%20/%20Statewide%20Races^011656688155 Tabular data] mo.gov {{dead link|date=January 2017|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

Rex Sinquefield has been deeply involved in efforts to privatize the St. Louis Lambert International Airport. He split with Travis Brown, his former consultant, after the ballot initiative was withdrawn in 2020.{{Cite web |last=Woodbury |first=Emily |date=September 9, 2020 |title=Listen: How Sinquefield/Brown Split Played Into Airport Privatization Failure |url=https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2020-09-09/how-sinquefield-brown-split-played-into-airport-privatization-failure |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=St. Louis Public Radio |language=en}}

Sinquefield and his family donate funds to a wide variety of organizations through the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. The foundation has donated in particular to the Today and Tomorrow Education Foundation, the Children's Education Alliance of Missouri, the Special Learning Center, the Dual Masters Scholarship Program at Saint Louis University, the St. Louis Chess Club, World Chess Hall of Fame, and the Mizzou New Music Initiative.[http://www.rexsinquefield.org/philanthropy-giving/ Rex Sinquefield Philanthropy.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915110538/http://www.rexsinquefield.org/philanthropy-giving/ |date=September 15, 2013 }} Retrieved October 29, 2013.

File:Sinquefield Music Center in June 2020 West View.jpg

In 2009, Sinquefield and his wife gave $1 million to the University of Missouri's School of Music.[http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2009/0309-sinquefield-gift.php $1 Million Gift Supports New Music at MU.] March 9, 2009. Those funds were used to create the New Music Initiative, an effort designed to encourage young people to become composers and to support new works of music composition.{{cite web|url=http://mizzounewmusic.missouri.edu/|title=Mizzou New Music Initiative - School of Music - College of Arts and Science - University of Missouri|author=School of Music|publisher=|accessdate=December 30, 2015}} Sinquefield has contributed to the St. Vincent Home for Children.{{Cite web|url=http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-rex-sinquefield-missouri.html|title = Rex Sinquefield: The Tyrannosaurus Rex of State Politics|date = May 20, 2015}}

In 2018, Sinquefield and his wife donated $50 million to Saint Louis University as part of the university's bicentennial celebration. The gift helped to fund a new Saint Louis University Research Institute and fund the construction of a new Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering building on SLU's campus. The gift was the largest single donation in Saint Louis University's history.{{Cite web|title=Historic Gift|url=https://www.slu.edu/news/2018/august/historic-gift.php|access-date=2021-04-30|website=www.slu.edu|language=en}}

Sinquefield is a director of St. Vincent Home for Children in St. Louis, and a life trustee of DePaul University. He serves on the boards of Saint Louis University, the St. Louis Symphony, the St. Louis Art Museum, the Missouri Botanical Garden,[http://showmeinstitute.org/rex-sinquefield.html Rex Sinquefield Biography.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140308185732/http://showmeinstitute.org/rex-sinquefield.html|date=March 8, 2014}} Retrieved October 29, 2013. and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.[http://www.camstl.org/about/board-of-directors/ CAM Board of Directors.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140212135104/http://camstl.org/about/board-of-directors/|date=February 12, 2014}} Retrieved October 29, 2013 He advises the Archdiocese of St. Louis on finance.

Since the 2000s, Sinquefield has spent tens of millions of dollars to boost chess in St. Louis and the United States, believing that the game can transform children and their academic lives.

In 2007, he opened the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis—later renamed the Saint Louis Chess Club—a non-profit organization meant to "maintain a formal program of instruction to teach the game of chess and to promote and support its educational program through community outreach and local and national partnerships to increase the awareness of the educational value of chess."[http://saintlouischessclub.org/About/Beginnings Our Beginnings.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130417064659/http://saintlouischessclub.org/About/Beginnings|date=April 17, 2013}} Retrieved October 29, 2013.[http://saintlouischessclub.org/About/Board Our Board.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219070818/http://saintlouischessclub.org/About/Board|date=February 19, 2012}} Retrieved October 29, 2013. Backed by Sinquefield's largess, the club quickly grew to prominence in the U.S. chess community. In 2009, the club began hosting the annual U.S. Championships and U.S. Women's Championships.

In 2010, Sinquefield bought the recently-closed World Chess Hall of Fame, renovated a house across the street from the Chess Club, and moved it to St. Louis.[http://worldchesshof.org/about/about-the-hall-of-fame/ About the Hall of Fame.] Retrieved October 29, 2013. In 2013 he launched the Sinquefield Cup, a super-grandmaster tournament. In 2018 he suggested that he had spent some $50 million on chess-related philanthropy.{{Cite web |last=Woytus |first=Amanda |date=2018-10-23 |title=Watch Rex Sinquefield talk about chess Tuesday night on HBO's "Real Sports" |url=https://www.stlmag.com/news/watch-rex-sinquefield-talk-about-chess-tonight-on-hbo-s-real/ |access-date=2024-09-24 |website=www.stlmag.com |language=en-us}}

Sinquefield and his wife, Jeanne, met at the Judo Club at the University of Chicago. They have three children and worked together at DFA, where Jeanne ran the trading department.

Since their return to St. Louis, they have divided their time between a 1,000-acre farm and a large house in the Central West End. St. Louis Magazine said he showed people around the orphanage, now called St. Vincent's Home for Children.

Sinquefield is a devout Roman Catholic.

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061016161602/http://www.dfaus.com/library/reprints/interview_sinquefield_tanous/ An interview with Rex Sinquefield] explaining the investment philosophy he pioneered.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060916010424/http://chicagogsb.edu/magazine/fall99/boothsinque.html An article] on Sinquefield's receipt of the 1999 Distinguished Entrepreneurial Alumni award from the University of Chicago graduate school of business.
• [https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/12/26/8364640/index.htm Fortune article] on Sinquefield's investment predictions.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070828095926/http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2007/apr/20070416busi004.asp Article] on Sinquefield's political activities in Missouri.
• [http://www.saintlouischessclub.org] Saint Louis Chess Club and Scholastic Center

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