Gustave Lehmann Levy

Background

Gustave Lehmann Levy was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Sigmund Levy, a container manufacturer, and Bella Lehmann. After his father's death in 1923, his mother took him and his two sisters to live in France.

Education

In 1927, after attending the American School in Paris, he returned to New Orleans to enter Tulane University. However, his mother could not afford the tuition, so he left New Orleans again in 1928 and moved to New York City, where he lived for the rest of his life. From 1928 until 1932, Levy attended night classes at New York University, but he never completed enough credits to obtain his degree.

Career

Levy procured a job as a runner at Newborg and Company, a small Wall Street brokerage, and worked his way up within the firm, eventually becoming a stock trader. Newborg and Company went out of business in 1932, in the aftermath of the stock market crash, and Levy joined the millions of Americans who were unemployed during the Great Depression. Fortunately, he got another job in 1933, working on the foreign bond desk of Goldman Sachs and Company at a starting salary of $27 per week. With the exception of a brief hiatus during World War II (1942 - 1945), when he served as a lieutenant colonel in the Air Corps, Levy spent the rest of his life working for Goldman Sachs.

Soon after he started at the firm, he was transferred to the stock trading desk, where he began to take positions for the firm's account instead of just executing orders for customers and making money on the commissions. He soon established himself as a hardworking, profit-making trader and a skilled arbitrageur with a talent for taking advantage of market inefficiencies. When he returned from the war in 1945, he was made a partner.

During the 1950's, Levy expanded Goldman's trading operations to include block trading and risk arbitrage. His aggressive trading style helped Goldman Sachs to emerge as one of the handful of firms that would dominate these markets for decades. This dominance helped the firm to expand its activities in related activities, including underwriting, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial paper. Levy's reputation as an ambitious and zealous trader with good instincts continued to grow. In 1969 he was named senior partner and chairman of the Managing Committee of Goldman Sachs, taking over for Sidney J. Weinberg, who had run the investment bank for many years. Colleagues and competitors alike regarded Levy as a tough and occasionally difficult man, but he was generally well respected. He was known as a relentless businessman who thrived in the competitive world of Wall Street. Under his leadership, Goldman Sachs continued to grow and expand, all the while remaining a highly profitable partnership. Unfortunately, his tenure at the firm was marred by a major securities scandal. In 1970, the firm had marketed commercial paper for the failing Penn Central Transportation Company, even as the railroad giant was on the verge of bankruptcy. The partnership was dragged into litigation, and in 1974 it was forced to pay settlements amounting to millions of dollars to investors who had bought the worthless Penn Central commercial paper.

In connection with his career as an investment banker, Levy served on numerous corporate boards, including New York Telephone, May Department Stores, Foster Grant, Keebler, Samsonite, Studebaker-Worthington, Norton Simon, Patagonia, the Bowery Savings Bank, and Braniff Airways. He was a director of the New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as of the Economic Development Council of New York City.

From 1967 to 1969 he was chairman of the board of governors of the New York Stock Exchange. He was a supporter of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, and served that organization as president from 1957 to 1959. In 1962, Levy was appointed chairman of the Mount Sinai Hospital and Medical Center, as well as of the Mount Sinai Medical School. From 1970 to 1976, he was a commissioner of the Port of New York Authority. He served, on a pro bono basis, as a distinguished adjunct professor of finance at New York University (1971 - 1976). Levy was treasurer of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, both in New York City, and a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D. C. His skill as a fund-raiser was often called upon to aid Republican politicians. In particular, he was active in the presidential campaigns of Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford, the gubernatorial campaigns of Nelson A. Rockefeller, and the mayoral campaigns of John V. Lindsay. Levy died in New York City.

Achievements

• Levy distinguished himself as a head of the international investment banking firm of Goldman, Sachs & Co. He played the key role in expanding the trading operations of the company. He was a vigorous fund-raiser and supporter of philanthropic causes, and he was active in civic affairs. The list of organizations he worked with was tremendous. Of note here was his work with the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York and the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York.

Connections

On March 7, 1934, Levy married Janet Wolf; they had two children.

Father:

Sigmund Levy

Container manufacturer

Mother:

Bella Lehmann

Spouse:

Janet Wolf