Ray and Barbara Dalio have lots of money and influence in Fairfield County, where Ray has run one of the world’s largest hedge funds, Westport-based Bridgewater Associates, which manages more than $160 billion in worldwide assets.
But the Dalios became statewide power players last year when they announced their foundation was giving $100 million to support an education-reform initiative with the state of Connecticut that aims to bolster some of the state’s low-performing public schools.
Since the launch of the effort — which also calls on state government and other philanthropists to throw in an additional $200 million — the Dalios have come under tighter scrutiny from the press, especially after the state legislature agreed to exempt the group, called The Partnership for Connecticut, from Freedom of Information laws, allowing some of their meetings and what is said in them to be done in secret.