Offshoreonly.com - Another Loss

We lost a great one on Monday. Many will know of him or at least the boat. He will be missed.

Published: December 17, 2003 NY Times

John A. Mulheren Jr., a charismatic Wall Street trader during the 1980's and chief executive of one of the New York Stock Exchange's largest specialist firms, died on Monday at his home in Rumson, N.J. He was 54.

The cause was seizures that resulted in a heart attack, according to Stephen Cutler, a family spokesman and business manager.

During the mergers and acquisitions boom of the 1980's, Mr. Mulheren was part of small circle of highly successful traders, including Robert E. Rubin of Goldman, Sachs, that made big bets on the shares of companies in takeover battles.

Mr. Mulheren became one of the most proficient arbitrage traders on Wall Street, making as much as $25 million in 1986, according to published reports.

Two years later, however, his fortunes changed as he was implicated in an insider trading scandal. He had been linked to the trading activities of Ivan F. Boesky, the speculator who would be convicted on insider trading charges. Ultimately, charges against Mr. Mulheren were overturned.

Mr. Mulheren switched from trading to management in the early 1990's, presiding over the growth of Bear Wagner Specialists, which today represents 16 percent of trading activity on the New York exchange, ranking fourth among specialist firms.

John A. Mulheren was born in the Bronx on June 20, 1949, and spent most of his childhood in Red Bank, N.J. In his hometown, he became a close friend of his neighbor Bruce Springsteen.

In 1967, he graduated from Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, N.J., and obtained a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Roanoke College in Salem, Va.

He started out at a small investment firm, before moving to Merrill Lynch at 25.

Mr. Mulheren cultivated a unique personality on Wall Street. A muscular man who openly displayed his emotions, he rarely wore a coat and tie, favoring instead open-necked shirts and dungarees and on special occasions, pink tuxedo shirts and camouflage pants.

In the 1980's he founded Jamie Securities, his own arbitrage firm, and hit his stride as one of the top traders during that period.

"He was one of the best traders on Wall Street during his era," said Guy Wyser-Pratte, a fellow takeover trader active during the 1980's. "He could spot an opportunity faster than anyone I have ever known."

In 1988, he was arrested in his hometown of Rumson, and charged with possessing a weapon and threatening the life of Mr. Boesky, who had agreed to testify against him in exchange for a shorter sentence. Mr. Mulheren's lawyers said the incident was a result of his failure to take lithium prescribed to treat manic depression. The weapons charges were dropped.

He spent a month in prison and was later released.

In 1990, he was found guilty of securities fraud, relating to his ties with Mr. Boesky, but the charges were overturned in 1991 by a court of appeals.

After a long break, he returned to the securities industry in 1994 as senior managing partner of Bear Wagner, a firm he had had an investment stake in going back to 1982.

Mr. Mulheren was an everyday presence at the firm's headquarters at 40 Wall Street. While he kept his hand in some trading activities, his broader responsibilities were more managerial and he presided over the firm's rapid growth in recent years.

Mr. Mulheren was also a well-known presence in Rumson, where he owned a farm as well as stakes in a beach club and an ice cream parlor called Crazees.

Despite his run-in with prosecutors in the 1980's, friends of Mr. Mulheren said he bore no grudges.

In 2001, because of his charitable work related to the Sept. 11 attacks, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who as United States attorney for New York in the 1980's had prosecuted Mr. Mulheren, named him an honorary police commissioner.

"John cared enough about people to forgive those who trespassed against him," said David Shulman, a longtime business associate.

Mr. Mulheren is survived by his wife, Nancy, and seven children; four sisters and a brother.