David Rubenstein’s quiet DC wedding revives memories of Alaska ties through Alice Rogoff, Permanent Fund controversy

By SUZANNE DOWNING

June 7, 2026 – Billionaire financier and philanthropist David Rubenstein, whose family has longstanding ties to Alaska media, politics, and finance, quietly married Caryn Zucker in Washington, DC, in a private, nearly secret ceremony officiated by Chief Justice John Roberts.

The intimate wedding, attended only by close family members, started at the US Supreme Court, where Justice Roberts performed the civil marriage ceremony. A religious ceremony followed at the historic Sixth & I synagogue. The celebration concluded with a small rooftop luncheon at the Hay-Adams Hotel, overlooking the White House.

For many Alaskans, Rubenstein’s name may be most familiar through his former marriage to Alice Rogoff, the one-time publisher and owner of the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Dispatch. The two were separated in 2005 and finalized their divorce in 2017.

Rogoff became a prominent figure in Alaska after purchasing the online Alaska Dispatch and later acquiring the Anchorage Daily News in 2014, combining the two organizations into the Alaska Dispatch News. During her ownership, the newspaper strongly backed then-independent candidate Bill Walker in his successful 2014 campaign for governor and remained generally supportive of his administration, even as he gutted the Permanent Fund dividend and nearly gave away the Alaska gasline project to the communist Chinese.

Rogoff owned a home in Anchorage, founded cultural initiatives connected to Alaska Native arts, and frequently appeared at political and philanthropic events throughout the state.

In 2016, Rogoff survived a plane crash near Halibut Cove when the small aircraft she was piloting went down during an attempted landing. She escaped with relatively minor injuries.

Her ownership of Alaska’s largest newspaper ultimately ended in financial collapse. Alaska Dispatch News entered bankruptcy in 2017 and was later sold, with the Anchorage Daily News eventually returning to local ownership.

The Rubenstein family’s Alaska ties extended beyond media ownership.

Rubenstein’s daughter, Gabrielle “Ellie” Rubenstein, served on the board of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, which oversees the state’s roughly $80 billion sovereign wealth fund. She was appointed by former Gov. Bill Walker and later became vice chair of the board.

Her tenure ended amid controversy after emails surfaced suggesting she had attempted to facilitate meetings between Permanent Fund officials and investment managers connected to her family and professional network. The communications created the appearance of conflicts of interest involving investment firms that sought business with the fund. Rubenstein denied wrongdoing but ultimately resigned from the board in 2024.

Yet David Rubenstein’s connection to Alaska dates back even earlier through his role as co-founder of the Carlyle Group. During the late 1980s, Carlyle participated in transactions involving the sale and transfer of net operating losses (NOLs) generated by Alaska Native corporations under provisions created through the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The transactions generated substantial fees for financial firms involved and became controversial enough that critics in Washington nicknamed them the “Great Eskimo Tax Scam,” although supporters argued the deals provided valuable capital to Native corporations.

Those transactions helped establish Carlyle during its early years and remain one of the more unusual chapters in the intersection of Alaska Native corporate finance and Wall Street.

President Joe Biden awarded Rubenstein the Presidential Medal of Freedom in January of 2025, just before Biden left office, for his support of historic preservation and civic institutions.

While the wedding itself was a quiet affair far from Alaska, it served as a reminder of the extensive connections between one of Wall Street’s most influential figures and the Last Frontier.