Winthrop H. Smith
Encyclopedia
Winthrop H. Smith also known as Win Smith was an American businessman and investment banker. He was notable as a name partner of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith.

Smith grew up in South Hadley, Massachusetts
South Hadley, Massachusetts
South Hadley is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 17,514 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area....

  He was educated at Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...

 and graduated from Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

 in 1916.

Upon graduation from Amherst, Smith joined Merrill Lynch & Co. in 1916, just two years after the firm's predecessor Charles E. Merrill & Co. was founded. Smith, who began as a junior runner and clerk at Merrill, was groomed by founder Charles E. Merrill
Charles E. Merrill
Charles Edward Merrill was an American philanthropist, stockbroker and co-founder, with Edmund C. Lynch of Merrill Lynch & Company .-Early years:...

, who also was an Amherst alumnus.

Smith's career would span more than four decades as he would ultimately serve as directing partner of the firm. In 1940 and 1941, Smith was an architect of Merill's transformative mergers including E.A. Pierce & Co.
E.A. Pierce & Co.
E.A. Pierce & Co. was a securities brokerage firm based in New York City. Originally founded as A.A. Housman & Co., the firm was renamed for Edward A. Pierce in 1927. In 1930, following the stock market crash of 1929 E.A. Pierce acquired the brokerage business of Merrill Lynch. Ten years later,...

 and Cassatt & Co. in 1940 followed by the acquisition of Fenner & Beane
Fenner & Beane
Fenner & Beane was a brokerage firm based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Originally founded as Fenner Gatling & Beane in 1916, the firm was renamed in 1919. The firm was founded by the Beane Brothers, New Orleans cotton merchants, to manage their exposure to fluctuations in commodity prices.In 1941,...

 in 1941. Smith is often credited with having implemented Charles E. Merrill
Charles E. Merrill
Charles Edward Merrill was an American philanthropist, stockbroker and co-founder, with Edmund C. Lynch of Merrill Lynch & Company .-Early years:...

's stategy of bringing Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...

 to Main Street
Main Street
Main Street is the metonym for a generic street name of the primary retail street of a village, town, or small city in many parts of the world...

 and received both respect and affection from his colleagues in the industry and at his firm.

In 1958, Smith handed over day-to-day control of the firm, at the time known as Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Beane. In recognition of his role in building Merrill into a leading national brokerage, Smith's name was added to that of the firm becoming Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith. Smith's name replaced that of Alpheus Beane's who firm Fenner & Beane
Fenner & Beane
Fenner & Beane was a brokerage firm based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Originally founded as Fenner Gatling & Beane in 1916, the firm was renamed in 1919. The firm was founded by the Beane Brothers, New Orleans cotton merchants, to manage their exposure to fluctuations in commodity prices.In 1941,...

 had merged with Merrill in 1941.

Smith is the father of Winthrop H. Smith Jr. a former Merrill Lynch
Merrill Lynch
Merrill Lynch is the wealth management division of Bank of America. With over 15,000 financial advisors and $2.2 trillion in client assets it is the world's largest brokerage. Formerly known as Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., prior to 2009 the firm was publicly owned and traded on the New York...

executive.
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