Hall of Fame 4 - Jay Meltzer

After graduating from Harvard University, Jay Meltzer took a job at his father’s textiles plant as a way to pass the time before enrolling in Harvard Business School. Little did he know that he would stay 11 years or that the experience would lay the foundation for his future success on Wall Street. The business was sold in 1960, and Meltzer, who had attended night classes to earn an MBA from Columbia Business School, was hired by Loeb, Rhoades & Co. “I had learned the textile and apparel business from the inside out,” says Meltzer, 83.

Meltzer was the first to capture No. 1 in Textiles, when the All-America Research Team was launched, in 1972; the sector was expanded to include Apparel in 1974, and Meltzer continued to rule the roost, not leaving the summit until 1978, as he was moving to Goldman, Sachs & Co. He reclaimed the crown in 1980 and continued to rank through 1994. In 1995 he moved to independent retail researcher Johnson Redbook Service to replace his friend Edward Johnson, the firm’s founder and director, who had died suddenly. He retired in 2000.

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