James Cayne, Who Ran the Ill-Fated Bear Stearns, Dies at 87

Jan 3, 2022
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In 1969 — after being pressured by his future spouse, Patricia Denner, to discover a job — Mr. Cayne was employed as a junior dealer at Bear Stearns in New York by Alan C. Greenberg, who would go on to change into the agency’s chief government and chairman.

Mr. Cayne’s ability at studying folks — in card video games or enterprise conferences — helped him climb the ranks, although he was additionally recognized for his blunt method and salty language. In 1988 he was named president of the financial institution, and in 1993 he was appointed chief government, pushing Mr. Greenberg apart.

“He might be charming when he wished to,” Mr. Greenberg wrote in “The Rise and Fall of Bear Stearns,” “and he actually labored arduous at cultivating a friendship with me.” In that guide — printed in 2010, 4 years earlier than he died — Mr. Greenberg portrayed his successor as a bully who was hungry for cash and standing.

In contrast, Mr. Cayne received fierce loyalty from his supporters, together with Alan Schwartz, who succeeded him in 2008 to change into the ultimate chief government of Bear Stearns. Mr. Schwartz, who’s now the chief chairman of the funding agency Guggenheim Companions, mentioned in an interview that Mr. Cayne “had probably the most sensible, strongest minds I’ve ever interacted with.”

After his retirement from Bear Stearns, Mr. Cayne devoted a lot time to bridge, which he was nonetheless enjoying on-line the week earlier than his dying. He received greater than a dozen North American titles and likewise performed on the planet championships, his daughter Alison mentioned.

Along with her, he’s survived by his spouse; one other daughter, Jennice Schenker; his sister, Merel; and 7 grandchildren. His first marriage led to divorce.

“He understood, on the finish, that the buck stopped with him,” Alison Cayne mentioned. “He made peace with the truth that he was not going to have the ability to change folks’s notion of what occurred.”

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Supply- nytimes