Samuel A. Ramirez, Sr.
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Samuel A. Ramirez, Sr. (born 1940 in New York City) made Wall Street History by becoming the first Hispanic to launch a successful investment banking firm.
Ramirez's parents migrated from Puerto Rico in the late 1930s in search of a better way of life. They moved to Spanish Harlem where Ramirez was raised and educated. His father worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and his mother was a seamstress. After he graduated from high school, he applied for admission to go to college.
Ramirez enrolled in Brooklyn's St. France's College where he earned his Bachelor's Degree in Economics in 1965. He barely started college when during his summers he worked for Kidder Peabody & Co. gaining experience in equity transactions. After he graduated, he went to work for the investment banking firm Stoever Glass & Co. During the years that he worked for Stoever Glass, he became an expert in municipal bonds and earned a reputation amongst the firms clientele as a reliable investor. The experience which Ramirez gained and the satisfaction of helping others to obtain their financial goals motivated him to start his own investment banking firm.
In 1975, with an investment of $50,000, Ramirez launched his own firm "Ramirez & Co.". The company specializes in the distribution of municipal bonds, and provides retail and institutional sales along with investment banking services to corporations and state and local governments. In order to gain recognition and alliances from other firms, Ramirez decided to not make the yet small Hispanic market his primary focus. His reputation of putting an emphasis on the preservation of capital instead of running risks in pursuit of a big payoff, has been a prime factor in his clients entrusting him to $2 Billion dollars of investments. Recently the company established an equity research department focusing on the growing Hispanic company's.
The firm operates out of seven offices across the United States and has a total of 90 employees. His son, Samuel A. Ramirez, Jr., is the current managing director of the firm.
Ramirez's wife, Diane, is the president of Halstead Properties, one of Manhattans largest real estate companies. During his spare time he enjoys playing golf and working out. Samuel A. Ramirez and his son were featured on the cover of the December 2005/January 2006 issue of Hispanic Trends Magazine.
