It was the exaggerated but misplaced confidence of
Wall Street's longest serving chief executive officer, Richard Fuld of Lehman, that finally led to Lehman's demise.
Over 14 years, Richard Fuld, 62, turned a money-losing bond trading shop into a full-service investment bank. An international squash player, Fuld could not master the final stroke as he failed to keep the 158-year-old banking major alive.
Fuld never changed. He remained the obstinate Lehman loyalist whose pride stood in the way of the firm. If he had sold out earlier, Lehman could have survived.
Fuld earned a BA from the University of Colorado and an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business. He started at Lehman in 1969.
Image: A painting of Richard Fuld, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, created by New York artist Geoffrey Raymond, sits on the sidewalk outside of Lehman Brothers headquarters building | Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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