John Moody (May 2, 1868 – February 16, 1958) was an American financial analyst, businessman and investor. He pioneered the rating of bonds and founded

Moody's Investors Service Moody's Ratings, previously and still legally known as Moody's Investors Service and often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its histo ...

. Moody's ratings are still issued, carrying on the tradition begun by '' Moody's Manual of Railroads and Corporation Securities'' and continued by the annual '' Moody's Analyses of Investments''. He resided in

Cranford, New Jersey Cranford is a Township (New Jersey), township in Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located southwest of Manhattan. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 23,847, an increas ...

, from 1893 to 1913.

Moody and bond rating

Moody's was later merged into Dun & Bradstreet, only to again become an independent corporation in October 2000. Moody's status is reflected in Thomas Friedman's 1996 comment: that

''There are two superpowers in the world today in my opinion. There's the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and there's Moody's Bond Rating Service. The
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
can destroy you by dropping bombs, and Moody's can destroy you by downgrading your bonds. And believe me, it's not clear sometimes who's more powerful.'' (February 13, 1996 interview with Jim Lehrer)

In 2007, Moody's Corporation was split into two operating divisions, Moody's Investors Service, the rating agency, and Moody's Analytics, with all of its other services."Moody’s Corporation Announces New Business Unit Structure" at allbusiness.com
August 7, 2007

Honors

Moody was a convert to Roman Catholicism after being raised a self-described Low Church Protestant Episcopalian, then a Broad Church Episcopalian. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Boston College, and was made Knight Commander of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...

Family

Moody was the son of William Francis Moody (1834–1919) and his wife Sarah Jane, née Nichols (1839–1897). He was one of five children. He was married to Anna Mulford Addison (1877,

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

philosopher and medievalist, Ernest Addison Moody (1903–1975) and John Edmund Moody (1900–1926), who died of typhoid fever in

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...

, Sicily.

Works

* ''The Truth About the Trusts: A Description and Analysis of The American Trust Movement'' (1904) * ''The Art of Wise Investing'' (1904) * ''The Art of Wall Street Investing'' (1906) * ''The Investor's Primer'' (1907) * ''How To Invest Wisely'' (1912) * ''Masters of Capital: A Chronicle of Wall Street'' (1919) * ''The Railroad Builders: A Chronicle of The Welding of The States'' (1919) * ''Profitable Investing: Fundamental of the Science of Investing by Moody'' (1925) * ''The Long Road Home'' (1933) * ''Fast by the Road'' (1942) * ''John Henry Newman'' (1945)

References

External links

* *
Short bio at Moody's Investor Services
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moody, John 1868 births 1958 deaths American financial analysts American financial company founders American investors Businesspeople from Jersey City, New Jersey Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism Date of birth unknown Members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre