John Gutfreund
| John Gutfreund | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
John Halle Gutfreund September 14, 1929 Scarsdale, New York |
| Died | March 9, 2016 (aged 86) Manhattan, New York City |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Oberlin College |
| Occupation | Investment banker, businessman and investor |
| Employer | Salomon Brothers |
| Spouse(s) | Joyce Low (3 sons) Susan Penn (1 son) |
John Halle Gutfreund (14 September 1929 – 9 March 2016) was an American banker, businessman and investor. He was the CEO of Salomon Brothers Inc, an investment bank that gained notoriety in the 1980s. Gutfreund turned Salomon Brothers from a private partnership into a publicly traded corporation which started a trend in Wall Street for investment companies to go public. He became an icon for the excess that defined the 1980s culture in America. In 1985, Business Week gave him the nickname "King of Wall Street".
Gutfreund grew up in a Jewish family in Scarsdale, a suburb of New York City. His father, Manuel Gutfreund, was the owner of a prosperous trucking company. He attended the Lawrenceville School. In 1951, Gutfreund graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio with a degree in English. He considered teaching literature but instead joined the Army. In 1953, he was discharged. His father belonged to the Century Country Club in Purchase, New York (which was at the time a center for the German Jewish establishment) where he often golfed with William (Billy) Salomon, the son of Percy Salomon, one of the three founding brothers of Salomon Brothers. At Billy Salomon's invitation, the young Gutfreund joined Salomon Brothers as a trainee in the statistical department.
After several months, Gutfreund became a clerk in the municipal bond department, eventually becoming a trader. He rose quickly through the company and became a full partner at the age of thirty four. In 1978, Billy Salomon named Gutfreund to succeed him as head of the firm, becoming the highest paid Wall Street executive at the time. Besides his executive office on the 43rd floor of One New York Plaza, Gutfreund frequently occupied a two-person desk at the head of the massive, double-decker 41st floor fixed income trading floor.
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