When he was two years old, Sina Toussi ’91 and his family emigrated from Iran to Morris Heights, an underserved neighborhood in the Bronx, New York. “My father passed away when I was fairly young, so I was raised by my mom and sister,” he shares. Shortly after his father’s death, Sina and his family moved to northern New Jersey.
Years later, when Sina began exploring options for college, cost was a major consideration. He enrolled at Rutgers University and discovered a love for philosophy, a newfound passion that inspired him to look for a more challenging program. When he learned that Cornell offered generous financial aid, he applied—allowing him to transfer and study philosophy at the College of Arts & Sciences.
This move opened the door to new mentors and possibilities, changing the trajectory of his life. Sina, the founder and chief investment officer of Two Seas Capital, established an undergraduate affordability scholarship in 2021 in honor of Professors Allen Wood and David Lyons. He recalls at length the influence his professors had on his writing. He describes how they took the time to critique his paragraphs and thoughts sentence-by-sentence, word-for-word.
“My written English was just abysmal,” he laughs, explaining that his language at that point had been shaped by non-fluent speakers from his childhood and adolescence. “I couldn’t put sentences together, so Professor Wood gave me a copy of Strunk & White and said, ‘You better learn this book.’”
He did, and Sina’s writing and understanding of moral and legal philosophies strengthened with each round of returned drafts, which were always thoroughly annotated. This compassionate back-and-forth transformed into a mentorship that laid the groundwork for Sina’s future and inspired him to pursue an education at Columbia Law School. He considers Cornell a catalyst for this achievement and the successful career that followed.
“It’s because of those professors who took an interest in my sentences—in my paragraphs and my thinking,” he adds.
“The help that Allen Wood and I gave Sina was not unusual,” says David B. Lyons, professor of law, emeritus, and Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy, emeritus. “Like our colleagues in the Sage School, we stressed writing and incorporated draft essays with detailed feedback into our courses, at all levels. The benefits to our students were readily observable. Sina took full advantage of the opportunities that system offered.”
The genuine care and support Sina felt during interactions with Professors Wood and Lyons was something he experienced in various forms all over campus—in classrooms with professors like Robert Venables, and at the Ecology House, where he lived and volunteered for two years. Together, they’ve left a lasting imprint on who Sina is today.
It is very, very gratifying to be contacted by former students, who note the benefits derived from a course they have taken with you. Sina Toussi goes substantially further, in a good example of ‘paying it forward,’ by creating an endowment for future students.
“I got to meet people from all over the world,” he says. “I learned so much from that. I think I became more like a citizen of the world, and my friends nurtured a compassion in me.”
According to Sina, this compassion has permeated all parts of his life. It influences the way he leads his hedge fund and how he gives back. To date, he has taken on 10 pro bono political asylum cases through Skadden Arps, allowing him to help clients from Iran, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, and China. His volunteer work with South Bronx United—an organization that serves kids in the poorest congressional district in the U.S.—is a clear point of pride for Sina.
“Only fifty percent of kids in the South Bronx graduate from high school,” he explains. “Our organization helps 1,500 kids annually by blending soccer and school programs. We have a one-hundred percent high school graduation rate.”
Education is at the heart of Sina’s many volunteer efforts, passion projects, and gifts. He knows from firsthand experience that it can open doors and transform lives. His endowed scholarship, bolstered by the university’s Undergraduate Affordability Challenge Match program, is focused on supporting first-generation college students from the Bronx, New York.
“I couldn’t be more proud of Cornell and my experience there,” he says. “It’s given so much to students like me.”
