WEINBERG, SIDNEY J.

WEINBERG, SIDNEY J. (1891–1969), U.S. investment banker. Weinberg was born in New York City and at the age of 16 entered the Wall Street investment banking house of Goldman, Sachs & Co. After serving in the navy during World War I, Weinberg rejoined Goldman, Sachs. He subsequently bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange (1925) and became a firm partner (1927). Weinberg's reputation as a corporate finance expert was such that he once sat simultaneously on the boards of directors of 31 companies. In 1956 Weinberg supervised the $650 million sale of Ford Motor Company stock, then the greatest such undertaking in business history. A Roosevelt supporter from 1932, he was offered, but declined, the post of ambassador to the U.S.S.R. in 1936. In 1933 he founded the Business Council, a forum for presenting the business view on the state of the nation and economy to Washington. He served as assistant director of the War Production Board during World War II, special assistant in the Office of Defense Mobilization during the Korean War, and as unofficial financial and economic advisor to U.S. presidents from Roosevelt through Kennedy.