Bernard Baruch

Personal

Vocation

Lifestyle

Traits

American financier and statesman, a political power-broker who served as an unpaid advisor to seven U.S. Presidents. From WW I into the Kennedy years, he was an ubiquitous and beloved figure who was larger than life. Baruch's greatest talent may have been in self-promotion. A masterful manipulator of the press, he carefully cultivated the image of a wise and powerful statesman. The son of a German-born Confederate army doctor, he was blessed with good looks, abundant charm, calculating intelligence and a sharp memory for facts and figures. Working his way up from clerk at $3.00 a week to partner in a small brokerage house, he managed his customers' funds, but played fast and loose with his own modest bankroll. In 1897, Baruch made his first big killing, and, by 1900, he had amassed his first million. Even if his dealings were sometimes questionable, he was always his own man. With a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, Baruch acted not only as broker and floor trader, but as an investment banker and venture capitalist in tobacco, gold mines, copper smelting, rubberizing and more. He was a man who could speak of hundred million dollar exchanges. At his peak, he was personally worth over $20 million. Not a workaholic, Baruch toured the U.S. in grand style once a year, summered in Europe and socialized with a kaleidoscope of friends. Died on 6/20/1965, New York. Link to Wikipedia biography