The Money Kings: The Jewish Immigrants who Transformed Wall Street

Featured Events | Jun 11, 2024 | Gabelli School of Business

Daniel Schulman was the guest speaker during the April 3, 2024 Financial Issues Forum, a virtual event hosted by Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business Center for Global Security Analysis, the Museum of American Finance, and the CFA Society New York. His talk was based upon his recently released book The Money Kings: The Epic Story of Jewish Immigrants Who Transformed Wall Street and Shaped Modern America, a sweeping narrative that traces the interconnected origin stories of Joseph Seligman, the Lehman brothers, Solomon Loeb, and Marcus Goldman—industrious Jewish immigrants who went from peddling trinkets and buying up shopkeepers’ IOUs to forming what would become some of the largest investment banks in the world. The New York Times-bestselling author expertly tells the fascinating story of how the founders of Goldman Sachs, Kuhn Loeb, Lehman Brothers, and J.&W. Seligman & Co. clashed and collaborated with J.P. Morgan, E.H. Harriman, Jay Gould, and other famed tycoons of the era. Schulman illustrates how these firms and the individuals who founded them transformed the United States from a debtor nation into a financial superpower, capitalizing on American industry and underwriting some of the 20th century’s exemplary companies, including General Motors, Macy’s, and Sears. He also explains how these legends of American finance also shaped the destiny of the millions of Eastern European Jews—including his own paternal grandparents—who immigrated to the U.S., often settling in New York City.