[1][2] A co-founder of the private equity firm Warburg Pincus, he was the chairman of the board of the State University of New York from 1978 to 1990.

[11] Blinken graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard University in 1948,[12][13] after serving in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II in 1944.

[1] In 1966, Blinken co-founded E. M. Warburg Pincus & Company, a private equity firm in New York.

[15][16] In 1984, the foundation distributed 1,000 art pieces to museums,[17] including to the National Gallery of Art.,[18] where Blinken was a member of the trustee council.

[25] During the presidency of Jimmy Carter, Blinken served on a special nomination panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals.

[20] In 1994, President Bill Clinton nominated Blinken to be the United States Ambassador to Hungary.