Henry Kaufman

American financier

Henry Kaufman (born October 20, 1927) is president of Henry Kaufman & Company, Inc., a firm established in April 1988, specializing in economic and financial consulting,[1] and is known by the nickname "Dr. Doom."[2]

## Early life[edit]

Kaufman was born on October 20, 1927, in Gedern, Germany. He was the son of a kosher butcher in a small village in Germany. In 1937, the then-9-year-old Kaufman fled Wenings, Germany and the Nazis with his family.[3] He attended high school in Washington Heights, where Henry Kissinger and Alan Greenspan preceded him by a year or two.[4] In 1948, he received a B.A. in economics from New York University, followed by an M.S. in finance from Columbia University in 1949, and a Ph.D. in banking and finance from New York University Graduate School of Business Administration in 1958.[1]

## Career[edit]

Kaufman worked in commercial banking and served as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. After the Federal Reserve, he spent 26 years with Salomon Brothers, where he was managing director, member of the executive committee, and in charge of the firm's four research departments. He was also a vice chairman of the parent company, Salomon Inc. He also served as a director of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and as chairman of the Lehman board's finance and risk committee.[5][6]

### Nickname[edit]

In the 1970s, Kaufman earned the sobriquet "Dr. Doom" when he was the chief economist at Salomon Brothers due to his frequent criticisms of government policies. On the morning of August 17, 1982, he accurately predicted the market had bottomed out which led to a huge rally that day in both stocks and bonds that was to be the beginning of the longest bull market in history.[4][7]

### Published works[edit]

In 1987, Kaufman was awarded the first George S. Eccles Prize for excellence in economic writing from the Columbia Business School for his book, Interest Rates, the Markets, and the New Financial World. In June 2000, he published On Money and Markets, A Wall Street Memoir.[4] Another book was published in August 2009, The Road to Financial Reformation. Tectonic Shifts in Financial Markets: People, Policies, and Institutions was published in 2017.[8]

## Personal life[edit]

Besides his business activities, Kaufman is active in a number of public organizations in the following capacities: member of the board of trustees (and chairman emeritus), Institute of International Education,[9] member of the board of trustees and member of the investment committee, Norton Museum of Art, member (and chairman emeritus), board of overseers, Stern School of Business, New York University, member of the board of governors, Tel-Aviv University, member of the international advisory committee, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Fellow, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, former treasurer, The Economic Club of New York, honorary trustee (and former president), The Animal Medical Center, life trustee, New York University, life trustee, The Jewish Museum.[1] New York's Kaufman Music Center was named in recognition of major gifts from Kaufman and his wife Elaine.[10]

### Honors[edit]

In 1982, Kaufman received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from New York University,[11] an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Yeshiva University in 1986, and from Trinity College in 2005. The Henry Kaufman Professorship of Financial Institutions is named in his honor.[12]

## See also[edit]

* List of investors in Bernard L. Madoff Securities

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Henry Kaufman | President, Henry Kaufman & Company, Inc". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
2. ^ "Henry 'Dr. Doom' Kaufman Bids Adieu to Lehman". The New York Times. May 18, 2010. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
3. ^ Anderson, Susan Heller (6 August 1990). "Chronicle". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
4. ^ a b c Warsh, David (21 January 2001). "Bull Run". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
5. ^ Strasburg, Jenny (January 2009). "'Dr. Doom' Didn't Predict Madoff Blowup". Wall Street Journal.
6. ^ Berg, Eric N. (17 December 1987). "Kaufman Leaving Salomon For Own Consulting Firm". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
7. ^ Morais, Richard C. "Dr. Kaufman's Cure". Retrieved 2017-12-27.
8. ^ "How the Fed Benefited from Its Own Failures | Maryland Smith".
9. ^ "Henry Kaufman". www.iie.org. Retrieved 2017-12-27.
10. ^ Adeniji, Ade (8 March 2018). "Deep Ties: A Wealthy Couple and a Cultural Center Remain Close Through the Years". Inside Philanthropy. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
11. ^ Wyatt, Edward (25 October 1998). "PRIVATE SECTOR; Dr. Doom to Bankers: There You Go Again". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
12. ^ "Charles W. Calomiris". Cornerstone Research. 2022-01-06. Retrieved 2023-08-22.

## External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Henry Kaufman.

* Business Week "He's Not Just 'Dr. Doom,'" a review of Kaufman's book "On Money and Markets, A Wall Street Memoir"
* IMF review of "On Money and Markets"

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