Bernard Baruch began his career on Wall Street in 1890 as a “runner” for the brokerage firm A.A. Housman and Company, making five dollars a week.
He was 19, a few years older than he was when this photograph was taken.
Little more than a clerk, he opened the office in the morning, copied letters and filled inkstands, but the job gave him an opportunity to study the way the stock market worked.
Eventually Baruch began selling stocks himself, his salary began to increase, and Housman offered him a partnership in the firm.
In 1889 Baruch met Annie Griffen, when they were both 19 years old. She was an Episcopalian and the daughter of prosperous New York businessman Benjamin Griffen.
Her father opposed the marriage because Baruch was Jewish; undaunted, Bernard wooed her faithfully for eight years.
Annie and I would meet in Central Park and, sitting on a park bench, I would tell her how we would get married as soon as I had earned enough money to support us. Our hopes would be high one day, when my little speculations would seem to be blooming. The next day our hopes would be down, along with the market.
Bernard M. Baruch, Baruch: My Own Story, p. 100
In the spring of 1897 Baruch bought 100 shares of American Sugar Refining on margin, which he parlayed into a profit of $60,000.
That fall Bernard and Annie were married, over the objections of her father. Three years later, not quite 30 years old, Bernard Baruch became a millionaire.
His father, Dr. Simon Baruch, reminded him of the responsibilities of wealth.
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