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Up for sale a RARE! "Mr Wall Street" Sidney Weinberg Hand Signed 5.5X3 Card.
ES-7984E
Sidney
James Weinberg (October
12, 1891 – July 23, 1969) was a long-time leader of the Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, nicknamed “Mr. Wall Street” by The New York Times and "director's director" by Fortune magazine.
In a rags-to-riches story,
he rose from a janitor's assistant, making $3/week, to CEO.
Weinberg's background contrasted sharply with that of the traditional Ivy League Wall Streeter. Weinberg was one of eleven children of a
Jewish immigrant wholesale liquor dealer. His family were active
members of Congregation
Baith Israel Anshei Emes in Brooklyn, joining when the synagogue was
on Boerum Place, and remaining with it when it moved to Cobble Hill. Sidney's
mother, Sophie, was sisterhood president from 1912 to 1913, his father, Pincus,
served as president from 1919 to 1921, and the children all attended the Sunday
school and Talmud Torah. Sidney
married Helen W. Livingston there in 1920. Sidney's name does not appear in any synagogue
documents after World War I, indicating less active membership in his adult
life. Weinberg dropped out of junior high school at P.S. 13, but got a letter
of recommendation from one of his teachers to enter the job market. Sidney
joined the workforce at the age of ten "selling newspapers at the
Manhattan-Brooklyn ferry terminal, shucking oysters, and carrying feathers for
a milliner." At one point, Sidney found jobs as a runner at
three different brokerage houses. The conflicts of interest cost him all three
positions.
Weinberg started with Goldman Sachs as a $3/week janitor's assistant, where his
responsibilities included brushing the firm's partners’ hats and wiping the mud
from their overshoes. The grandson of the firm's
founder, Paul J. Sachs, liked
Weinberg, and promoted him to the mailroom, which Weinberg reorganized. To
improve Weinberg's penmanship, Sachs sent him to Brooklyn's Browne's Business
College. Weinberg
did a stint in the U.S. Navy in World War I, and afterwards became a securities
trader. Goldman Sachs bought Weinberg a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in
1925. Weinberg became a Goldman Sachs partner in 1927 and
helped run the investment trusts, including Goldman Sachs Trading Corp. He
co-ran the division with Waddill Catchings, who shriveled the market value of Goldman
Sachs Trading Corp. from $500 million to less than $10 million. At this point,
Weinberg took over the division, becoming a senior partner in 1930. He became
head of the firm in 1930, saving it from bankruptcy, and held that position
until his death in 1969.
