Lewis L. Glucksman (December 22, 1925 – July 5, 2006) was a former

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a ...

trader and former chief executive officer and chairman of Lehman Brothers, Kuhn, Loeb Inc.

Early life and education

Glucksman was born into a second generation

Hungarian Jewish The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived ...

family that lived on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He served as a teenage volunteer with the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Glucksman graduated from the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...

and later earned a Master's degree in business administration from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

. The National University of Ireland granted him an honorary

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in 2002.

Career

Glucksman had a distinguished career on Wall Street. He joined the staff of privately held Lehman Brothers in 1963. After rising from head of sales and trading at Lehman to co-CEO, Glucksman, described then as "gruff and tough" beat

Pete Peterson Douglas Brian "Pete" Peterson (born June 26, 1935) is an American politician and diplomat. He served as a United States Air Force pilot during the Vietnam War and spent over six years as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese army after his plane w ...

, a former

United States Secretary of Commerce The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...

for control of the then-closely held firm in 1983, a battle documented in the 1986 book ''Greed and Glory on Wall Street'' by

Ken Auletta Kenneth B. Auletta (born April 23, 1942) is an American author, a political columnist for the New York Daily News, and media critic for ''The New Yorker''. Early life and education The son of an Italian American father and a Jewish American ...

. Shortly after Glucksman took control, however, the firm experienced a sharp drop in profits. That resulted in a forced sale by Lehman's partners to American Express in 1984. American Express paid $380 million for the firm. Glucksman joined

Primerica Financial Services Primerica, Inc. (NYSE: PRI) is a company that provides insurance, investment and financial services to middle income families in the United States and Canada. Primerica is the parent company of National Benefit Life Insurance Company, Pri ...

after Citigroup Inc. founder Sanford Weill acquired the company in 1988. He also served as Commissioner of the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorize ...

Ireland and philanthropy

He travelled to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

frequently in his role as a trustee of

to promote academic relationships between Irish academia and NYU. He established a home in Cobh,

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

in 1984 with his wife Loretta Brennan Glucksman and lived there from 1999. Glucksman directed much of his philanthropy towards projects of benefit to the promotion of culture in Ireland. These included the transfer of the Coastal and Marine Research Centre from UCC to waterfront premises at

Cork Harbour Cork Harbour () is a natural harbour and river estuary at the mouth of the River Lee in County Cork, Ireland. It is one of several which lay claim to the title of "second largest natural harbour in the world by navigational area" (after Port Ja ...

; his patronage of the Lewis Glucksman Gallery at UCC and the Glucksman Chair of Literature and the Glucksman Library and Reading Room at the

University of Limerick The University of Limerick (UL) ( ga, Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a public research university institution in Limerick, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in 1989 in accordance w ...

; his support for the Millennium Wing of the National Gallery of Ireland; his 1993 founding of Glucksman Ireland House at

as a centre of Irish culture, language, literature and music; and his participation in The Ireland Funds. The Glucksman Institute for Research in Securities Markets (formed at

NYU Stern New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

) is endowed by a grant from Lewis Glucksman, Stern MBA '1951. It offers faculty and student grants to support research on equities, bonds, futures, options, and other financial instruments and on the markets where they are traded.

Personal life and death

In 1987, Glucksman married Loretta Brennan an Irish American.Irish America Hall of Fame 2012: "Loretta Brennan Glucksman"
2012 She had three children from her first marriage. Glucksman died at his home in Cobh in 2006, aged 80. He was survived by his wife and his daughters Mary Salinger Glucksman and Jane Salinger Glucksman; and three stepchildren, John Cooney, Christopher Cooney, and Kate Cooney Picco.The Independent (Ireland): "Life marked by kindness, wisdom and generosity"
July 7, 2006

References

* (2006, July 7). ''Lewis Glucksman, 80; Lehman Bros. Trader Rose to Chief Executive''. The Los Angeles Times

External links

Lehman BrothersGlucksman Institute for Research in Securities MarketsThe Ireland FundsThe Glucksman GalleryGlucksman Ireland House, New York University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glucksman, Lewis 1925 births 2006 deaths Jewish American bankers Citigroup people Philanthropists from New York (state) Ireland Funds Businesspeople from New York City College of William & Mary alumni Jewish American philanthropists Lehman Brothers people