Name Alan Greenberg Role Executive | Books Memos from the Chairman | |
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Spouse(s) Ann (?-1976; divorced; 2 children)Kathryn A. Olson (m. 1987) Education |
Digital age what brought down bear stearns alan c greenberg
Alan Courtney "Ace" Greenberg (September 3, 1927 – July 25, 2014) was a Chairman of the Executive Committee of The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc.
Contents
- Digital age what brought down bear stearns alan c greenberg
- Early life
- Education
- Career
- Personal life
- Death
- Bridge accomplishments
- Wins
- Runners up
- Philanthropy
- References

Early life

Greenberg was born in Wichita, Kansas but raised in Oklahoma City in an upper middle-class Jewish family, one of three children of Theodore and Esther Greenberg. His father owned a woman's clothing store and was part of an extended family that operated clothing stores in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.
Education
Greenberg first attended the University of Oklahoma on a football scholarship. Later injuring his back, he transferred to the University of Missouri receiving a B.A. in business in 1949. After graduating, Greenberg decided to pursue a career on Wall Street and accepted an offer from Bear Stearns. He accepted a position as a clerk receiving a salary of $32.50 per week.
Career
Greenberg rose through the ranks of Bear Stearns eventually serving as its CEO from 1978 to 1993 and Chairman of the Board from 1985 to 2001. Greenberg also served as a non-executive director of Viacom. He was the author of Memos from the Chairman, which is a compilation of memos he issued to the associates of Bear Stearns during his tenure as CEO.
While serving as Chairman of the Executive Committee of Bear Stearns, Greenberg oversaw the collapse of the company in March 2008. He was subsequently involved in the talks with JPMorgan Chase which eventually bought out the failing company. Fortune reported that Greenberg agreed to join JPMC as vice chairman of Bear's retail business.
In 1969, Greenberg hired James Cayne as a stockbroker at Bear Stearns. By 1993, Cayne was CEO of Bear Stearns, a position he held until January 2008 (just before the firm's demise in March 2008), and was succeeded by Alan Schwartz.
Personal life
Alan Greenberg was married twice:
Death
On 25 July 2014, Greenberg died of cancer.
Bridge accomplishments
Greenberg was an avid bridge player, having won the Reisinger Board-a-Match Teams in 1977. In 1981, he won the Maccabiah Games teams bridge tournament and was second in the Reisinger later that year.
Wins
Runners-up
Philanthropy
Greenberg was a member of the Society of American Magicians. In 1998, Greenberg was the subject of a 999-word profile in People Magazine that trumpeted his $1 million donation to New York City's Hospital for Special Surgery to underwrite sildenafil prescriptions for financially needy, impotent men.
"You do some nutty things," Greenberg stated and he told People that his wife Kathryn told him, "you've made your money, and you can spend it any way you want." That philanthropic gesture topped the time Greenberg paid to repair the bathrooms at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.