Bernard M. Baruch

Bernard Baruch was born in Camden, South Carolina in 1870. In 1881, the Baruch family moved from Camden to NYC, where Baruch attended City College of New York. Baruch began a career as a broker and partner at a brokerage firm. He then bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange and amassed a fortune in the speculative sugar market. In 1903, he founded his own brokerage firm, and by 1910, he was one of the best-known financiers on Wall Street. Baruch left Wall Street in 1916 to advise Woodrow Wilson, aiding in U.S. economic mobilization during WWI. Years later, during WWII, Baruch was also an advisor to President Roosevelt. He died in 1965 at age 94.