Billy Salomon Led Wall Street by Example

With the exception of my parents, no one had a bigger impact on my life and career than Billy Salomon, who died Sunday at 100. I first met him when I was a 24-year-old kid on a job interview at Salomon Brothers & Hutzler, and I knew immediately that I wanted to join the firm his father had started, even though the pay was less than what I could have made elsewhere. Billy became my mentor, not by offering me advice and support, though he did that, but by exemplifying principled leadership at its best.

Billy valued ethics above all else, and he taught all of us who worked for him to always do right by our customers -- even if it came at the expense of the firm. The only thing he valued more than loyalty to the firm was honesty to the customer. Even though he was part of an old-school Wall Street family, he earned his way to the top of the firm, and he was on a first-name basis with as many junior people as senior partners. He respected everyone who worked hard, and everyone respected him.