Edward Wedbush co-founded his namesake stock brokerage some 65 year ago when the Dow Jones industrial average totaled less than 500 and its members included such now-defunct companies as F.W. Woolworth Co. and Bethlehem Steel Corp.
Wedbush & Co., though, weathered financial industry consolidation, recessions and stock market busts to remain one of the last remaining full-service, fully independent brokerages headquartered in Southern California by the time its co-founder stepped down two years ago as president of the Los Angeles company, now called Wedbush Securities.
“How many CEOs do you know who founded a company and were in the driver’s seat for seven decades?†said Lloyd Greif, chief executive of boutique L.A. investment bank Greif & Co. “He was one of those guys who wanted to die with his boots on.â€
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And indeed he did.
Wedbush, 87, who had remained chairman of the securities firm’s parent company, died Sunday at his home in Rancho Santa Fe after a long illness that his family said left him debilitated. Yet just three days before his death he had still managed to make it into his chair at his home office.
“It took every ounce of his being to get into that office and fire up his trading screens and monitor the market and look at some stock accounts of some family clients, long-running clients,†said his son Gary, 55, who followed his father into the business and is co-president of the securities firm.
Wedbush was born on Sept. 14, 1932, in St. Louis and exhibited that kind of drive growing up as the oldest of five children. His father was an electricity dispatcher at Union Electric of Missouri who worked the overnight shift two out of every six weeks.
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Wedbush’s father wanted him to find a job after high school to help pay the household bills. Instead, he decided to pursue an education and won scholarships to the University of Cincinnati, where he earned an undergraduate degree in engineering, and UCLA, where he got an MBA. He never forgot the importance of those scholarships, with education becoming the focus of his philanthropy later in life.
He and classmate Robert Werner formed the brokerage in 1955 after managing to come up with $10,000 but neither wanted to put his name on the business out of fear it would fail — so they flipped a coin and Wedbush lost. Their revenue for the first year totaled just $659 but the company became a success and Wedbush bought out Werner a few years later.
Edward Wedbush built the largest stock brokerage in Los Angeles and his name adorns the top of the distinctive downtown high rise.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Wedbush Securities now has some 800 employees and 99 offices providing an array of financial and wealth management services. It has separate businesses serving institutional clients, clearing trades for smaller brokerages and a commodities trading arm in Chicago. Parent Wedbush Capital has interests in private equity, a hedge fund, high-speed and online trading and other business lines.
Gary Wedbush said his father’s life was a classic American success story driven by an “unrelenting optimism†that left his father “zero tolerance†for cynics. “That was really over 60 years a driving force at the firm that helped it grow and be innovative and achieve the prominence that it achieved,†he said.
Through it all he followed a style of management rooted in a Great Depression childhood and the company’s early years. “When all you have is $10,000, you’re worried about the price of a postage stamp,†Wedbush told The Times in a 2010 profile.
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That penny-pinching, however, ended up earning him notoriety.
The company is headquartered in downtown Los Angeles in a distinctive office building visible from the 110 Freeway, but the interior carpet was described as stained and ragged in The Times profile. “That’s his consuming passion. He probably gets more fun controlling costs than anything,†Peter Allman-Ward, the firm’s retired chief financial officer, told the paper at the time.
Gary said his father was cost and value conscious in all aspects of his life. “It’s a pretty consistent theme,†he said, noting the company’s headquarters have since been upgraded. “He got the last mile out of everything.â€
He even managed to anger his neighbors when he covered the leaky shingles on his Ladera Heights house in tarpaulin for years, despite a net worth that The Times estimated topped $150 million at the time of the 2010 profile.
Wedbush admitted embarrassment over how long the roof problem lingered, saying he was stymied by mold that infiltrated his house from a hillside drainage problem. But he also said his frugal and careful approach to business was key to surviving the global financial crisis while titans like Bear Stearns & Co. and Lehman Bros. collapsed.
The roof on the home, where Wedbush raised his family before moving to Rancho Santa Fe, was finally fixed a few years later and sold, Gary Wedbush said.
Son Eric Wedbush, 52, who also went into the family business, said there was no doubt The Times article stung — headlined “Ed Wedbush’s roof leaks, but his wallet doesn’t†— but it became part of company folklore that reassured clients the firm was careful with their money.
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“It actually turned out to be a positive in my view,†said Eric, chairman of Wedbush Securities.
The firm ran into regulatory issues last decade with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies, including allegations that it didn’t properly oversee a broker who was pushing a pump-and-dump scheme on clients. The SEC noted the firm had a history of compliance issues and for a time lacked “adequate personnel for a regulated entity of its size and import.â€
Gary said while the company suffered from a cluster of negative headlines he didn’t believe its compliance issues were out of the ordinary. Still, he acknowledged his father ran a frugal operation that placed compliance functions on trusted and loyal employees at the different business units. The company has since centralized and beefed up its compliance staff.
“Maybe some of those great characteristics were somewhat old school in a very new and complicated era,†he said, adding that the company his father built has experienced its best profits ever over the last five years.
“I think you can’t argue with the 65-year history,†Eric said. “The firm is still standing.â€
In addition to his two sons, Wedbush is survived by his wife, Jean, and daughter Leigh Ann.
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Notable deaths 2019
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Pioneering shock jock Don Imus was one of radio’s most popular and polarizing figures. Born in Riverside, he became a top broadcaster in New York, but he also sparked a national firestorm in 2007 with a racist remark about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team. He was 79. (Richard Drew / Associated Press)
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Cokie Roberts covered Washington from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump for NPR and ABC News. A co-anchor of the ABC Sunday political show “This Week†from 1996 to 2002, Roberts devoted most of her attention to Congress, where her father Hale Boggs was a House majority leader until his death in 1972. She was 75. (Donna Svennevik / Walt Disney Television via Getty)
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T. Boone Pickens followed his father into the oil and gas business and built a reputation as a maverick, unafraid to compete against industry giants. In the 1980s, Pickens sought riches on Wall Street by leading bids to take over big oil companies including Gulf, Phillips and Unocal. Even when he failed to gain control of his targets, he scored huge payoffs by selling shares back to the company and dropping the hostile takeover bid. He was 91. (Riccardo Savi / Getty Images)
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When Robert Mugabe took over as Zimbabwean president in 1980, he was celebrated as a hero in the liberation war against Britain. But after international sanctions, a series of fraudulent elections and an economic collapse sparked by the seizure of white-owned farms, Mugabe become a pariah and retired in 2017 rather than face impeachment. He was 95. (Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi / Associated Press)
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David Koch was the aide de camp to Charles, his older brother, as the two leveraged the family fortune to push American politics to the right. The Koch brothers pushed the boundaries of dark money in politics and fueled a backlash against environmental regulations and government programs such as healthcare and mass transit. He was 79. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press)
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Peter Fonda was the son of a classic Hollywood star and a key player in the 1969 countercultural road trip saga “Easy Rider,†which he co-wrote and produced. The screenplay earned Fonda his first Academy Award nomination; his second came in the lead actor category for the 1997 independent film “Ulee’s Gold.†He was 79. (AP)
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Hard-line Chinese premier Li Peng was best-known for ending the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests with a bloody crackdown by troops. A keen political infighter, he spent two decades at the pinnacle of power before retiring in 2002, leaving a legacy of prolonged economic growth and authoritarian control. He was 90. (AP)
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Chris Kraft, shown with President Reagan in 1981, never flew in space but was the creator and longtime leader of NASA’s Mission Control. The legendary engineer served as flight director for all Mercury flights and seven of the Gemini flights, helped design the Apollo missions and later oversaw the beginning of the shuttle era at Johnson Space Center. He died just two days after the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s moon landing. He was 95. (AP)
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Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens joined the court as a centrist Republican but emerged in his later years as the leading voice of its liberal bloc. Appointed by President Ford, Stevens played a key role in decisions that preserved a woman’s right to abortion, maintained a strict separation of church and state, and put limits on the death penalty. He was 99. (AP)
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Billionaire Ross Perot blazed across America in the 1990s as a third-party presidential candidate and won nearly 19% of the popular vote in the 1992 election, finishing third behind Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican President George H.W. Bush. The diminutive Texan was an early tech entrepreneur who founded Electronic Data Systems, a computer services company, in 1962 with $1,000 in savings. He was 89.
(Peter Muhly / AFP/Getty Images)
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Pitcher Tyler Skaggs grew up an Angels fan in Santa Monica and joined the organization as a first-round draft pick. He battled injuries throughout his career but started 24 games last season and showed signs of dominance this year. He was 27.
(Charlie Riedel / AP)
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Judith Krantz wrote blockbuster romance novels including “Scruples†and “Princess Daisy†that sold more than 80 million copies worldwide. Her books have been translated into more than 50 languages, and seven have been adapted as TV miniseries, with her late husband, Steve Krantz, serving as executive producer for most. She was 91.
(Aaron Rapoport / Getty Images)
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Italian director Franco Zeffirelli was best-known for his films, including the 1968 critical and box office hit “Romeo and Juliet†and a 1990 “Hamlet†with Mel Gibson. His massive opera productions included a version of Puccini’s “La Boheme†that became the most-often presented production in the Metropolitan Opera’s history. He was 96.
(Paolo Cocco / AFP/Getty Images)
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Danish-born socialite Claus von Bulow, left, shown with attorney Alan Dershowitz in April 1985, was convicted in 1982 and then acquitted three years later on two counts of attempting to murder his American heiress wife, Sunny, with injections of insulin. The high-profile case has been called one of the most sensational courtroom dramas in modern U.S. history. He was 92.
(Charles Krupa / AP)
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Herman Wouk explored the moral fallout of World War II in the Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Caine Mutiny†(1951) and other widely read books. Determined to produce a “great war book,†Wouk wrote “The Winds of War†and its sequel, “War and Remembrance,†in the 1970s, and the two sweeping novels became the basis for a pair of television miniseries. He was 103.
(Douglas L Benc Jr / AP)
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Architect I.M. Pei had a client list that included French President Francois Mitterrand for the Louvre and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library in Boston. Among several Pei projects in the Los Angeles area are the former Creative Artists Agency headquarters in Beverly Hills and the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. He was 102.
(Pierre Gleizes / AP Photo)
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Tim Conway came to prominence on television as a bumbling ensign in “McHale’s Navy†opposite Ernest Borgnine from 1962 to 1966, then became a regular on “The Carol Burnett Show,†where he famously developed a knack for making costar Harvey Korman crack up. He also starred in the “Apple Dumpling Gang†movies in the 1970s and gained fame with a new generation as the voice of Barnacle Boy on “SpongeBob SquarePants.†He was 85.
(George Brich / AP)
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John Singleton’s 1991 debut, “Boyz n the Hood,†was an inner-city coming-of-age story that earned two Oscar nominations and put the young filmmaker in the company of emerging black moviemakers such as Spike Lee and Mario Van Peebles. Singleton went on to direct “Poetic Justice†(1993), “Higher Learning†(1995) and “Baby Boy†(2001), which featured Taraji P. Henson at the start of her career. He was 51.
(Christopher Polk / AFP/Getty Images)
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Grammy-nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle was gunned down outside his Marathon Clothing store in the same South L.A. neighborhood where he was known as much for his civic work as he was for his hip-hop music. He was 33.
(Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images for Warner Music)
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Sidney Sheinberg, right, with Steven Spielberg and Lea Adler, Spielberg’s mother, at a 1994 Beverly Hilton gala.
(Shepler, Lori / Los Angeles Times)
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Jan-Michael Vincent was a golden boy of 1970s Hollywood action films and went on to star in the mid-1980s TV adventure series “Airwolf.†But his erratic behavior and cocaine consumption was a major reason “Airwolf†was canceled. He was 74 by most accounts, but the death certificate listed him as 73.
(Alex Garcia / Los Angeles Times)
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Sitcom star Katherine Helmond had memorable roles as ditzy matriarchs in “Soap,†“Who’s the Boss?†and “Coach.†Her work as Jessica Tate on the 1970s parody “Soap†earned her seven Emmy nominations, and she was nominated again in 2002 for her guest role in “Everybody Loves Raymond.†Helmond also starred in director Terry Gilliam’s films “Brazil†and “Time Bandits.†She was 89.
Dodgers right-hander Don Newcombe was the first outstanding African American pitcher in the major leagues and in 1949 became the first to start a World Series game. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound hurler was also the first player in major league history to have won the rookie of the year, Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards. He was 92.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Michigan Democrat John Dingell Jr. used his considerable power in the House of Representatives to uncover government fraud and defend the interests of the automobile industry. Known as “Big John†and “The Truck†for his forceful nature and 6-foot-3-inch frame, Dingell was the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history. He was 92.
(Win McNamee / Getty Images)
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Albert Finney starred in films as diverse as “Tom Jones,†“Annie†and “Skyfall.†One of the most versatile actors of his generation, he played an array of roles, including Winston Churchill, Pope John Paul II, a southern American lawyer and an Irish gangster. He was 82.
(Graham Barclay / For The Times)
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Michelle King was the first African American woman to lead Los Angeles Unified School District. Her major accomplishment was pushing the graduation rate to record levels by allowing students to quickly make up credits for failed classes. She was 57.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Grammy-winning singer and songwriter James Ingram topped the charts in the ‘80s with hits like “Baby, Come to Me†and “Somewhere Out There.†He also co-wrote the Michael Jackson hit “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing).†He was 66.
(Stefano Paltera / AP)
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Emmy Award-winning writer Bob Einstein was best known as stuntman Super Dave Osborne, whose feats always went wrong. The comedy veteran got his start writing for 1970s variety shows such as “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,†and he later played Larry David’s devout friend Marty Funkhouser on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm.†He was 76.
(Archive Photos / Getty Images)
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Carol Channing was a Broadway star best known for her enduring portrayal of the title character in the musical “Hello, Dolly!†A winner of three Tony Awards, including one for lifetime achievement, she appeared in the play at least 5,000 times. She was 97.
(Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images / Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
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Mary Oliver, one of the country’s most popular poets, focused on spirituality, nature and New England. Her poems won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 and the National Book Award in 1992. She was 83.
(Josh Reynolds / For the Times)
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Herb Kelleher built Southwest Airlines into the biggest discount carrier and set the standard for budget air travel for more than three decades. He and co-founder Rollin King used a formula of short, no-frills trips that spawned dozens of imitators. He was 87.
Laurence Darmiento covers finance, insurance, aerospace and dealmakers in Southern California for the Los Angeles Times. He joined the paper in 2015 as an assistant business editor and has overseen finance, real estate and Washington business coverage. Previously he had been the managing editor of the Los Angeles Business Journal and was a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News and other outlets. A New York native, he is an alumnus of Cornell University.
