John Livingston Weinberg (January 25, 1925 – August 7, 2006) was an American banker and businessperson, running

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

from 1976 to 1990.

Early life

Weinberg was the son of Sidney Weinberg, a banker at

, and was born and grew up in the

Westchester County Westchester County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The county is the seventh most populous cou ...

suburb of Scarsdale. He was educated at

Deerfield Academy Deerfield Academy (often called Deerfield or DA) is an Independent school, independent College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schoo ...

. He graduated with an A.B. in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1948 after completing a senior thesis titled "Status and Functions of Corporate Directors." He then attended

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

. He had served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Marines in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and was recalled for the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

Career

He joined

in 1950 and rose to become a senior investment banker and chairman of the management committee, running the firm from 1976 to 1990. At Goldman, he resisted taking the firm public, and during his tenure, Goldman refused to work on hostile takeovers. He was a director of the

Seagram The Seagram Company Ltd. (which trade name, traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational beverage and during the last few years of its existence, entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. ...

drinks group, newspaper publisher

Knight-Ridder Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. It was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, allowing the latter to become the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States at the time ...

, and the chemical firm Du Pont. He was a trustee of

and

New York-Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (abbreviated as NYP) is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City. It is the primary teaching hospital for Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The hospit ...

. He endowed the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

. He hired a man to keep his name and his firm's out of the press, and kept him off the full-time payroll (though he sat full-time at a desk in head office) so that if, improbably, a comment did slip out, it could be honestly dismissed as not coming from a Goldman Sachs employee.

Family and death

John L. Weinberg died at the age of 81 due to complications from a fall. He and his wife Sue Ann Gotshal, daughter of Sylvan Gotshal (1897–1968), lived in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...

. They had two children, and five grandchildren. Their son, John S. Weinberg, joined

in 1983, became a partner in 1992, and served as vice chairman of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. from 2006 to 2015. He joined

Evercore Evercore Inc., formerly known as Evercore Partners, is a global independent investment banking advisory firm founded in 1995 by Roger Altman, David Offensend, and Austin Beutner. The firm has advised on over $4.7 trillion of merger, acquisitio ...

in 2016 as Chairman of the Board and became CEO in 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weinberg, John L. 1925 births 2006 deaths American corporate directors American investment bankers Jewish American military personnel United States Marine Corps personnel of the Korean War United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Chairmen of Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officers of Goldman Sachs Deerfield Academy alumni Harvard Business School alumni Businesspeople from Scarsdale, New York Princeton University alumni United States Marines 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews