Les Wexner attended his first meeting of the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Board of Trustees for the first time in more than a year on Tuesday.
Despite being the board's chair for the university's medical system named in his honor, Wexner hasn't attended a meeting since May 2025. The 88-year-old retail mogul, billionaire and Ohio State megadonor faced renewed scrutiny in recent years over his longtime friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Wexner stayed well after the meeting and a multi-hour long executive session ended, speaking with an OSU trustee in the back of the room. After, he exited the back door of the Longaberger Alumni House where his dark gray Audi SUV was parked next to a catering vehicle and two dumpsters.
WOSU followed him and asked him what he thought about calls by OSU students, faculty and staff to remove his name from university buildings.
Wexner said "I don't think about it" and got in the passenger seat of his car and left.
Wexner is stepping down as chair of the board, but will remain a board member. Robert Schottenstein, president of Columbus-based M/I Homes, is set to become Wexner Medical Center's next chairman.
During a more than 10 minute speech, Wexner apologized for missing "a few meetings" but explained that he doesn't think the hospital system's oversight body is that impactful.
"I think for me, the least productive time, and this is 40 years of history with the Ohio State, is in board meetings," Wexner said.
The billionaire said instead, he talks about major decisions outside of board meetings with Schottenstein, the hospital's director Dr. John Warner and others. He said this happens over the phone or in person at least once every other week.
"I schedule myself out pretty much two years in advance. So my schedule is in advance of the university board schedule," Wexner explained.
Wexner said despite being absent from meetings, he's spent thousands of hours working with Ohio State over the years.
"Even if I'm not at meetings, my head goes with me everywhere I am," he said.
Wexner's fellow board members, including Schottenstein and Ohio State President Ravi Bellamkonda heaped praise on Wexner before he spoke.
Despite calls to remove Wexner's names, Schottenstein suggested Cannon Drive should be named in the billionaire's honor, because he says Wexner was instrumental in getting it moved.
"Relocated Cannon Drive should be called Les Wexner Drive because it wouldn't exist without him and he's laughing, but it's true," Schottenstein said.
The new board chair didn't stop there. He compared Wexner's actions to "Moses parting the Red Sea" and said of Wexner, "there is no better Buckeye."
The demands to remove Wexner's name from the medical center, a building at the Woody Hayes Athletics Center and the Wexner Center for the Arts is going through an official committee. That same committee recently reviewed a renaming request for Thompson Library and decided against renaming that building.
In the Epstein Files released by the U.S. Department of Justice, Wexner was named by the FBI as one of Epstein's co-conspirators. Wexner was never charged with a crime connected to Epstein.
After the release of these files, Wexner was subpoenaed by Congress to testify before a U.S. House committee.
Several House Democrats and staff and House Republicans flew to Wexner's New Albany mansion to interview him. Wexner maintained that he cut ties with Epstein right before Epstein pleaded guilty to procuring a child for prostitution in 2008. Wexner maintained he never witnessed or had any knowledge of Epstein's criminal activity.
"I was naive, foolish and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein," Wexner said at the time.
Wexner alleges Epstein, who managed Wexner's fortune for years, stole millions of dollars. Epstein had power of attorney over Wexner's finances before the billionaire claims to have cut ties with Epstein in 2007.
The Epstein Files showed that wasn't the case and that the two communicated in 2008, the same year Epstein plead guilty to soliciting sex from a minor.
Epstein later died by suicide in prison amid as authorities investigated Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell for orchestrating a sex trafficking operation. Maxwell was convicted of helping Epstein abuse underage girls.
While many praised Wexner on Tuesday and his time helming the university's medical board, the Ohio Nurse's Association criticized his absence. The nurse's union spoke at the start of the meeting and held signs, calling for better treatment of nurses by the medical center.
"If this institution can tolerate their chair of this board being effectively absent for roughly a year, It can stop treating a bedside nurse with a migraine like they are running an elaborate criminal conspiracy because they called off one shift, knock it off," ONA Vice President Amy Pompeii said.
Bellamkonda, who is in his first year as university president, thanked Wexner and his wife Abigail Wexner for their many years of service to the university.
"Both of you are truly community leaders and great supporters of Ohio State and the state overall. And we are grateful for that as well," Bellamkonda said.
