Lee B. Stern (born December 27, 1926) is the longest tenured trader at the

Chicago Board of Trade The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), is an American futures exchange, futures and options exchange that was founded in 1848. On July 12, 2007, the CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form CME Group. CBOT and three other excha ...

. He has been one of the most successful traders in the commodities market throughout his membership, and is well known for his involvement in the Chicago sports scene. He was the President of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

Chicago Sting The Chicago Sting (1974–1988) was an American professional soccer team representing Chicago. The Sting played in the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984 and in the Major Indoor Soccer League in the 1982–83 season and again from ...

, and remains a director and minority owner of the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

Early life

Born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family, Stern attended

Senn High School Senn High School is a public four-year high school located in the Edgewater neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Senn is operated by the Chicago Public Schools system and was opened on 3 February 1913. The school ...

. Upon graduation in 1945, he attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

and enlisted in the Army Air Corps cadet program and reported for active duty in 1945. After serving two years including a stint in the army of occupation in Germany, he attended

Roosevelt University Roosevelt University is a private university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The university enrolls arou ...

in Chicago, before starting at the Chicago Board of Trade. Lee married Norma Retchin in 1951. They have 4 children, 11 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren.

Professional success

Stern began his career as a clerk for

Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, doing business as Merrill, and previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investm ...

in December 1947. After a successful run of twenty years in futures and options trading, Stern opened a clearing firm, Lee B. Stern & Company in 1967.

Soccer

Stern founded the

of the NASL and

MISL Major Indoor Soccer League has been the name of three different American professional indoor soccer leagues: *Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992), known in its final two seasons as the Major Soccer League *Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2 ...

in 1974 and led the team until it folded in 1988. In their 14-year history, the Sting won two NASL championships (

Soccer Bowl The Soccer Bowl was the annual championship game of the North American Soccer League (NASL), which ran from 1968 to 1984. The two top teams from the playoffs faced off in the final to determine the winner of the NASL Trophy. From the league's ...

), in 1981 and 1984. Stern also served as Chairman of the NASL Executive Committee in 1981 and 1982 as well as Chairman of the MISL Executive Committee from 1986 - 1988. Stern was a member of the U.S. World Cup Founder's Club which and served as one of the major participants in bringing the World Cup to Chicago. He was inducted into the

National Soccer Hall of Fame The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a public-private partnership among FC Dallas, the City of Frisco, Frisco Independent School District, and the U.S. Soccer Federation, and currently located in Toyota Stadium (Texas), Toyota Stadium in Frisco, T ...

on October 25, 2003.

Baseball

Stern has also been long-associated with the

, where he is a minority owner and serves on the team's board of directors.Chicago White Sox front office
Last Visited 1/19/09

Victim of illegal activities

On October 22, 1992, Darrell Zimmerman of Chicago, Illinois and Anthony Catalfo of Bayside, Queens, New York, attempted to manipulate the US Treasury bond futures and options market of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). The gist of the scam was to depress prices long enough for Zimmerman and Catalfo to turn a sizable profit. Catalfo reportedly profited approximately $1,500,000 but Zimmerman lost nearly $9,000,000, for which his clearing firm, Lee B. Stern & Company, would be held liable. After the suspension of trading and clearing privileges of Lee B. Stern & Company and its three principals Lee Stern, son Daniel Stern, and Lester Moucher, the Chicago Board of Trade had the suspension expunged on October 28, 1992. A CBOT arbitration panel found Zimmerman and Catalfo guilty of fraud and conspiracy, fining Zimmerman $1,500,000 and Catalfo $750,000 and ordered them jointly liable to Lee B. Stern & Co. for $8.6 million in damages. On July 6, 1994, Catalfo was found guilty of six counts of wire fraud by a Federal jury and sentenced to 42 months in prison. Zimmerman fled to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, BC

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and fought

extradition In an extradition, one Jurisdiction (area), jurisdiction delivers a person Suspect, accused or Conviction, convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforc ...

Redemption

Stern, the president of LBS Limited Partnership, celebrated his 70th anniversary as a

member on November 8, 2019. Stern's motto has been quoted as: "You can't buy integrity and once you lose it no amount of money can buy it back." Stern's other motto is "Take care of number one and then number two will take care of itself."

References

External links

Meet the World's Longest Serving Futures Trader
from CME's Open Markets website

* ttp://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=7th&navby=case&no=942562 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. ANTHONY CATALFO at FindLaw
CCX Member, Lee Stern, Looks Back at 55-Years as a Chicago Board of Trade Member
on the

Chicago Climate Exchange The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) was a voluntary, legally binding greenhouse gas reduction and trading system for emission sources and offset projects in North America and Brazil. CCX employed independent verification, included six greenhous ...

Web site from th
John Lothian Newsletter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Lee 1926 births Living people American financiers 20th-century American Jews Chicago White Sox owners Chicago Sting American commodities traders Major League Baseball owners North American Soccer League (1968–1984) executives Roosevelt University alumni University of Illinois alumni American soccer chairmen and investors National Soccer Hall of Fame members 21st-century American Jews