Separation : Part 6

The Real Deal: My Life in Business and Philanthropy
by Sandy Weill, Judah S. Kraushaar

(Page 6 of 9)

My life's disruption didn't end with my parents' divorce. Joanie and I had planned our wedding for the week following graduation, but toward the end of the school year, I received more unexpected news. Everyone was receiving their diploma in an envelope ahead of the actual ceremony. When I opened mine, it was empty except for a note claiming I couldn't graduate because of an incomplete in my cost accounting course. I had missed the final exam in order to console my mother after my father's departure. The irony looking back is striking. At the time, however, it was no laughing matter. My advisor had incorrectly assured me that I had sufficient credits to graduate, so the news was devastating. Without my diploma, I wouldn't be eligible to receive my air force commission as planned, and the inability to graduate only lowered me further in the eyes of my prospective in-laws.

As it happened, I was able to make up the missed exam the day after graduation and had to wait until September for my degree to be official. Forty-nine years later, in another ironic twist, I'd receive an original diploma in person from Cornell's president as a gesture of appreciation for my leadership in supporting the university. In accepting the gift, I made sure to remark that Cornell had taught me a powerful lesson about the pitfalls of bureaucracies. I also joked that the diploma "was a little late" and that "I'd carry it home since it seemed to have gotten lost in the mail the last time."

With my future still very much undecided, Joanie and I married in June. Our wedding and honeymoon were terrific. The elegant ceremony, held at the Essex House, was small-about fifty people and mostly family. My college roommate Lenny was the best man while Helen was Joanie's maid of honor. In typical fashion, my father failed to show as he had decided to go to Mexico in order to remarry speedily. He got married to Marian a day after us but sent a photographer so that he could have his own photos of our ceremony. It was for the best since I'm sure his presence would have ruined the day for my mother.

Despite the tussle with my dad earlier that year, Joanie's father told us he'd be willing to spend $5,000 on our wedding and gift and gave us the option on how the sum should be split. We ended up receiving $3,500 in cash. My father-in-law insisted on investing it for us since he didn't respect my judgment on financial matters. In absentia, my father made good on his original promise of giving us a car, a Mercury convertible with defective gears that allowed it only to drive forward. We spent our wedding night at the Essex House before heading to the Concord Hotel in the Catskills where Joanie had won a free week for appearing on a game show.

After our week in the mountains, we headed to Florida for a leisurely two-month vacation where we traveled the length and breadth of the state. Early on, we had an embarrassing incident. I had deposited the cash we received from our wedding in a savings account in New York and thought that the checks I had been writing drew from that account. Much to our surprise, we learned that we had been paying for one motel after another with bouncing checks. I'll never forget arriving at the Jack Tar Motel in Marathon Key and being accused of check fraud. Fortunately, we convinced the authorities of our naïveté and arranged to repay our debts. It was far from an auspicious omen for a future banker!

Returning from our extended honeymoon that August, Joanie and I lived with our parents. We stayed with my mother during the week since her Flatbush home was more convenient to Brooklyn College where Joanie was still finishing her degree. On weekends, we'd shift to Joanie's old bedroom in her parents' home. I had another month before I'd receive my college degree after which I still planned to join the air force.

Living with Joanie's parents was awful. My relationship with them remained strained, as it clearly bothered them that their new son-in-law lacked a job, had a problem graduating from college, and came from a broken home. They didn't think I deserved their daughter and barely masked their feelings. Making matters worse, Joanie's bed was on wheels-there was no carpet, and I always felt like her dad had a stethoscope pressed to the wall. I took a commission job selling The Greater New York Industrial Directory and hated it. After selling only one book in ten days, I quit. With nothing better to do, I'd play arcade games in my free time. I recall making up stories each day about how I had passed the time so I wouldn't lower myself even further in the eyes of Joanie's parents.

One day I passed a Bache & Company office and peered in. The sputtering ticker tape and buzz of activity looked interesting, and I ended up asking my father what he thought about the business. His wife, Marian, soon introduced me to a friend who happened to be a broker at Bear Stearns. Suddenly, I had a job as a runner earning $150 a month. Most of the people with whom I initially worked were on Social Security, and I knew I could do better. I quickly graduated to margin clerk.

The brokerage business was fascinating. I used to spend my lunch break taking in the scene in the "board room," a large bullpen where the brokers worked. There was a two-sided glass partition. On one side were salespeople and traders while on the other stood the firm's legendary leader, Cy Lewis, a big man oozing with power who constantly barked out instructions to his traders. Alongside Cy sat a young Ace Greenberg, who one day would earn his own reputation as Bear's CEO. Being a margin clerk taught me a great deal about how the business operated and instilled a lifelong appreciation regarding the importance of a good back office. As a margin clerk, I received calls from brokers asking how much money their clients had to invest. These were the days before computers, and I had to perform all the calculations by hand, matching securities and figuring borrowing capacity based on margin rates.

Copyright © 2006 by Sanford I. Weill

About the Author

Sanford I. Weill is Chairman Emeritus of Citigroup Inc., the diversified global financial services company formed in 1998 through the merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group. Mr. Weill retired as CEO of Citigroup on October 1, 2003, and served as Chairman until April 18, 2006.

Judah S. Kraushaar, the former director of the Global Financial Services Equity Research team at Merrill Lynch, has been consistently ranked as the banking industry's top securities analyst by investor surveys from The Wall Street Journal, Institutional Investor, and Fortune. He and his wife, Michele, and their three children live in Westchester County, New York.