Fifty Two Years 1920-1980: VP Paul N Duggan's memoir/history of Sutro & Co, San Francisco Brokerage Firm ~ Pacific Stock Exchange

Title: Fifty Two Years (1920 - 1980)
Author: [Paul N. Duggan]
Publication: [Belvedere Tiburon, California?: privately printed, 1981]

Description: Green boards with gilt title on front cover. Bit of rust from paper clip on first couple leaves, else clean and unmarked. Laid in is the business card of Sutro Senior Vice President Samuel M. Yates. 75, [1] single-sided pages. 11 x 8.5 inches. No copies located in WorldCat institutions.

A unique volume, giving an inside view of the evolution of the prominent West Coast brokerage firm of Sutro & Co. In this employment memoir, Paul N. Duggan primarily focuses on the evolution of Sutro & Company between the time that he started in 1928 and 1970, when it became a corporation, significantly attentive to the persons of the many partners and brokers he worked with.

In the first section he describes, one-by-one, the prominent personalities and partners in the Sutro firm during the years 1928-1929, which he follows with an account of changes at the partnership and the impact of regulatory and market changes during the 1930s. He discusses the impact of the war years and Sutro's corporate finance efforts in the 1940s.

Many changes throughout the 1950s are described, including the establishment of their pension system, the departure of Bob Harter, the employment and character of a new broker Alaistair ''Shorty'' Hall, acquisition of smaller firms and the addition of brokers, the moving of their headquarters from 407 Montgomery in 1953, the retirement of Sidney Schwartz, the changes following the departure of Stanley ''Pete'' Symons, and the details of partner Richard ''Dick'' Blum's deal to finance the purchase of Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus.

The decades-long role of Felix M. Juda is also given special attention. The closing sections focus on Duggan's involvement in developing Sutro's syndicate, new issue and underwriting business, as well as the great ''paper crunch'' of 1969, and closes with a brief summary of his work as Syndicate Manager between 1970 and 1978.

Paul Norwood Duggan (1913-1998) worked for 52 years at Sutro & Company, beginning in 1928, at the age of 15 as a messenger boy. In 1952, after 24 years of continual service, working in every department of the investment firm, he became a general partner. He served as the Chairman of the Board of the Pacific Stock Exchange in 1969. When Sutro & Co. closed out its partnership and became a corporation at the beginning of 1970, he became one of its two senior vice-presidents. He retired from the board on January 1, 1980. He settled in Marin County around the time of his retirement.

Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Near Fine

Keywords: San Francisco, brokerage, history, stockbroker, stockbrokers, Pacific Stock Exchange, Sutro, Sutro & Co, financial, biography, autobiography, Wall Street, West Coast, California,