John Moody (May 2, 1868 – February 16, 1958) was an American financial analyst, businessman and investor. He pioneered the rating of bonds and founded

Moody's Investors Service Moody's Investors Service, often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its historical name. Moody's Investors Service provides international ...

. Moody's Manuals are still issued, carrying on the tradition begun by '' Moody's Manual of Railroads and Corporation Securities'' and continued by the annual '' Moody's Analyses of Investments''. He resided in

Cranford, New Jersey Cranford is a township in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located southwest of Manhattan. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 23,847, an increase of 1,222 (+5.4%) from the 2010 census count ...

from 1893 to 1913.

Moody and bond rating

Moody's was later merged into

Dun & Bradstreet The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation is an American company that provides commercial data, analytics, and insights for businesses. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, the company offers a wide range of products and services for risk and financia ...

, only to again become an independent corporation in October 2000. Moody's status is reflected in

Thomas Friedman Thomas Loren Friedman (; born July 20, 1953) is an American political commentator and author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is a weekly columnist for ''The New York Times''. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global tr ...

's 1996 comment: that

''There are two superpowers in the world today in my opinion. There's the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and there's Moody's Bond Rating Service. The
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
can destroy you by dropping
bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...
s, and Moody's can destroy you by downgrading your bonds. And believe me, it's not clear sometimes who's more powerful.'' (February 13, 1996 interview with
Jim Lehrer James Charles Lehrer (; May 19, 1934 – January 23, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. Lehrer was the executive editor and a news anchor for the ''PBS NewsHour'' on PBS and was known for his role as a deb ...
)

In 2007, Moody's Corporation was split into two operating divisions, Moody's Investors Service, the rating agency, and

Moody's Analytics Moody's Analytics is a subsidiary of Moody's Corporation established in 2007 to focus on non-rating activities, separate from Moody's Investors Service. It provides economic research regarding risk, performance and financial modeling, as well as ...

, with all of its other services."Moody’s Corporation Announces New Business Unit Structure" at allbusiness.com
August 7, 2007

Honors

Moody was a convert to Roman Catholicism after being raised a self-described Low Church Protestant Episcopalian, then a Broad Church Episcopalian. He received an honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...

from

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, and was made

Knight Commander Commander ( it, Commendatore; french: Commandeur; german: Komtur; es, Comendador; pt, Comendador), or Knight Commander, is a title of honor prevalent in chivalric orders and fraternal orders. The title of Commander occurred in the medieval mili ...

of the

Order of the Holy Sepulchre The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Equestris Sancti Sepulcri Hierosolymitani, links=yes, OESSH), also called Order of the Holy Sepulchre or Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, is a Catholic Church, Catholic order of ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

Family

Moody was the son of William Francis Moody (1834–1919) and his wife Sarah Jane, née Nichols (1839–1897). He was one of five children. He was married to Anna Mulford Addison (1877,

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, France – 1965); their sons were

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

philosopher and medievalist,

Ernest Addison Moody Ernest Addison Moody (1903–1975) was a noted philosopher, medievalist, and logician as well as a musician and scientist. He served as professor of philosophy at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he also served as department ch ...

(1903–1975) and John Edmund Moody (1900–1926), who died of typhoid fever in

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

, Sicily.

Works

* ''The Truth About the Trusts: A Description and Analysis of The American Trust Movement'' (1904) * ''The Art of Wise Investing'' (1904) * ''The Art of Wall Street Investing'' (1906) * ''The Investor's Primer'' (1907) * ''How To Invest Wisely'' (1912) * ''Masters of Capital: A Chronicle of Wall Street'' (1919) * ''The Railroad Builders: A Chronicle of The Welding of The States'' (1919) * ''Profitable Investing: Fundamental of the Science of Investing by Moody'' (1925) * ''The Long Road Home'' (1933) * ''Fast by the Road'' (1942) * ''John Henry Newman'' (1945)

References

External links

* *
Short bio at Moody's Investor Services
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moody, John 1868 births 1958 deaths American financial analysts American financial company founders American investors Businesspeople from Jersey City, New Jersey Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism Date of birth unknown Knights of the Holy Sepulchre