Fred Joseph

Who was Fred Joseph?

Frederick H. "Fred" Joseph was the former president and chief executive officer of the investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert during the 1980s.

The son of a Boston cabdriver, Joseph graduated from Harvard University in 1959 and received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1963. While at Harvard, Joseph won several Harvard Boxing Club medals.

In 1963, Joseph began his career in finance in the corporate finance department of E. F. Hutton working for John S.R. Shad. Following Shad's departure from Hutton, Joseph left the firm as well to join Shearson, Hammill & Co. By the early 1970s, Joseph was Shearson's chief operating officer, the number-two post in the firm. However, in 1974, Shearson was acquired by Hayden, Stone & Co. and Joseph left the firm to join Drexel Burnham Lambert as co-head of corporate finance. Although Drexel was only a second-tier firm at the time, Joseph had long wanted to get back into investment banking. He boldly promised that in 10 years, Drexel would be as powerful as Goldman Sachs. Although junk-bond chief Michael Milken was the most powerful man in the firm, it was Joseph who was named president in 1984 and CEO in 1985.