Armand Erpf

February 8, 1897 (age 73)

New York City, New York, United States

In 1919, he became an officer and part owner of C. E. Erpf and Company, his older brother Carl's crude-rubber brokerage. In 1923 he left the country to survey the textile industry in Saxony, Germany. In 1933, Erpf joined Carl M. Loeb, Rhoades, and Company (later Loeb, Rhoades, and Company). Between 1924 and 1933, he was statistician, and later officer, director, and part owner, of Cornell, Linder, and Company of New York, a management engineering firm. During his first three years at Loeb, Rhoades, he served as director of the statistical, research, and investment advisory departments. The company named him a general partner in 1936. Erpf entered the United States Army as a lieutenant colonel in 1942. Promoted to colonel in 1944, he served in Washington with the General Staff Corps until 1945, then in the Western Pacific with army headquarters, and finally with the commanding general USAF, China Theater. Erpf pioneered in many areas of the investment banking business. He possessed keen analytical abilities and, at the same time, was one of Wall Street's most idiosyncratic operatives. Erpf stated that in the mid-1950's he had been an investor in the establishment of Metromedia Inc. , a television and outdoor advertising chain that included WNEW in New York City and WTTG in Washington, D. C. , among its affiliates. As chairman of the executive committee of Crowell Collier, he promoted its acquisition of Macmillan Publishing Company in 1957. According to the New York Times, the company grew from sales of $27 million to sales of $225 million within a decade. Crowell Collier than acquired Brentano bookstores in 1962, and soon after that the Berlitz Schools of Languages and Berlitz Publications. Erpf masterminded the financing of a new publication, New York magazine, an outgrowth of the Sunday magazine supplement of the New York Herald Tribune and its successor, the World Journal Tribune, which ceased publication in 1967. The first editor of New York, Clay Felker, credited Erpf with enabling the staff to maintain editorial control by having secured a broad array of financial backers rather than just one or several. Erpf also sat on the boards of numerous corporations and served as chairman of Aneid Equities. Erpf was a strong supporter of education and the arts. He served on the boards of a number of cultural institutions, including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the New York Cultural Center. Because its center was not reachable by traveling in a straight line but could only be approached by moving away from it, to Erpf the maze was "a spiritual truth. " Erpf was considered remote in his business affairs. He was often called on to predict the coming year's fiscal prospects, particularly as a strong proponent of capitalism. He cautioned his analysts not to get overly specialized. Erpf died of a heart attack at his office in New York City. Loeb, Rhoades was acquired in 1979 by Shearson Hayden Stone (later Shearson Lehman).

Armand Grover Erpf

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banker investment executive

Background

He was born in New York City, the son of Bartholomew Erpf and Cornelia von Greiner.

Education

After graduating from Columbia University with a B. S. in 1917, he worked as assistant secretary and then assistant manager of the Suffren Company of New York and Brazil, importers of manganese ore.

Career

In 1919, he became an officer and part owner of C. E. Erpf and Company, his older brother Carl's crude-rubber brokerage. In 1923 he left the country to survey the textile industry in Saxony, Germany.

In 1933, Erpf joined Carl M. Loeb, Rhoades, and Company (later Loeb, Rhoades, and Company).

Between 1924 and 1933, he was statistician, and later officer, director, and part owner, of Cornell, Linder, and Company of New York, a management engineering firm.

During his first three years at Loeb, Rhoades, he served as director of the statistical, research, and investment advisory departments. The company named him a general partner in 1936. Erpf entered the United States Army as a lieutenant colonel in 1942.

Promoted to colonel in 1944, he served in Washington with the General Staff Corps until 1945, then in the Western Pacific with army headquarters, and finally with the commanding general USAF, China Theater.

Erpf pioneered in many areas of the investment banking business. He possessed keen analytical abilities and, at the same time, was one of Wall Street's most idiosyncratic operatives.

Erpf stated that in the mid-1950's he had been an investor in the establishment of Metromedia Inc. , a television and outdoor advertising chain that included WNEW in New York City and WTTG in Washington, D. C. , among its affiliates. As chairman of the executive committee of Crowell Collier, he promoted its acquisition of Macmillan Publishing Company in 1957. According to the New York Times, the company grew from sales of $27 million to sales of $225 million within a decade. Crowell Collier than acquired Brentano bookstores in 1962, and soon after that the Berlitz Schools of Languages and Berlitz Publications.

Erpf masterminded the financing of a new publication, New York magazine, an outgrowth of the Sunday magazine supplement of the New York Herald Tribune and its successor, the World Journal Tribune, which ceased publication in 1967.

The first editor of New York, Clay Felker, credited Erpf with enabling the staff to maintain editorial control by having secured a broad array of financial backers rather than just one or several.

Erpf also sat on the boards of numerous corporations and served as chairman of Aneid Equities. Erpf was a strong supporter of education and the arts.

He served on the boards of a number of cultural institutions, including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the New York Cultural Center.

Because its center was not reachable by traveling in a straight line but could only be approached by moving away from it, to Erpf the maze was "a spiritual truth. "

Erpf was considered remote in his business affairs. He was often called on to predict the coming year's fiscal prospects, particularly as a strong proponent of capitalism. He cautioned his analysts not to get overly specialized.

Erpf died of a heart attack at his office in New York City.

Loeb, Rhoades was acquired in 1979 by Shearson Hayden Stone (later Shearson Lehman).

Achievements

He served on the boards of a number of cultural institutions, including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the New York Cultural Center. He served as chairman of the council of Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, and in 1967, Loeb, Rhoades endowed the Armand G. Erpf chair in corporations at Columbia's business school at a testimonial seventieth birthday. Promoted to colonel in 1944, he served in Washington with the General Staff Corps until 1945, then in the Western Pacific with army headquarters, and finally with the commanding general USAF, China Theater.

Views

Erpf was quoted in Time magazine, proclaiming the 1, 680-foot labyrinth with walls six to eight feet high as being symbolic of "a world so caught up with scientific rationalism, it doesn't know where it's going. "

He was often called on to predict the coming year's fiscal prospects, particularly as a strong proponent of capitalism.

He believed in "large corporations" because only they could "bring solidity and stability into the market place of chaos. "

Quotations: When one of his peers labeled him a "speculator" rather than an "analyst, " Erpf responded to Fortune's Charles E. Silberman that he considered speculation a "higher art" than analysis.

The art was in recognizing the "less visible factors. " Time considered him "elfinlike, " with "an uncanny nose for investment opportunities. "

In another interview Erpf stressed that he found modern American capitalism most "exciting, " because it was "moving into other areas than the mere production of commodities. "

He contended that it was in these areas that "more and more the human being is not a commodity, but must become an independent vital entity. "

In an interview with Time, Erpf acknowledged that he specifically liked the Brentano purchase because it could transform "publishing into a modern corporate enterprise to bring education to the masses. "

He predicted that if this happened, "we'll have a renaissance here that will make the Italian Renaissance look like a pond next to the ocean. "

Membership

He was a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Interests

Erpf was a serious art collector, with his eclectic tastes ranging from Chinese snuff bottles to avant-garde painting. According to Fortune magazine, he was a part owner of the Lone Ranger. Fascinated by mazes, he hired an English sculptor and known authority on mazes, Michael Ayrton, to build a brick maze on his five-hundred-acre estate in the Catskill Mountains.

Connections

He was married in 1928, but his marriage ended in divorce several years later.

On April 7, 1965, Erpf was married in Italy to Susan Stuart Mortimore, a New York artist, but Erpf did not publicly announce the marriage for three years. The couple had two children.

Father:: Bartholomew Erpf
2nd wife:: Susan Stuart Mortimore

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Armand Grover Erpf

Background

Education

Career

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Born

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Awards

He was awarded the Legion of Merit.