Don't feel badly if Warrens name has never come up in conversation. Quite frankly,I had never heard of him until recently.
If he hasn't been mentioned on this forum, I will write just a few quick words about this man.
Mr. Hellman was passionate about bluegrass. He played the banjo and toured, as recently as October of last year with his bluegrass band "The Wronglers." He encouraged his favorite musical style by hosting many festivals each year, including the three day "Hardly Bluegrass Concert" in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park that draws upwards of 750,000 people.
And not just bluegrass. His concerts included performers such as Elvis Costello, Patti Smith (the godmother of punk) and John Mellancamp.
He was an avid skier, runner and all around athelete, Until recently he would arise each morning around 4:30 for a 16 mile lope through the Presidio (I have a fond memory of laundry detail there whilst preparing to embark to Korea back in 1960)
He co- founded a ski school in Stratton Mountain Vermont, was president of the US Ski Association, and, among other things, he was 5 time national champion for his age group in the "Ride and Tie" competion. (A combination of running and horseback riding....yeah, I know. I never heard of it either.)
But. There was a dark side.
He was a wall street investor and president of Lehman Brothers. He was an aggressive deal maker who earned the sobriquet "Hurricane Hellman". He became, at the age of 26, the youngest partner in that firms history and when his uncle, Fred Ehrman, the CEO of Lehmans was ousted by the firms partners, it was he who delivered the news.
In a story he recounted later, Hellman said he could not bring himself to look in his uncles face, and only remembers the color of his socks, "gray and bunched around his ankles", as he read the formal letter firing him.
He was one remarkable man, to say the least.
A wall street investor who could play "Roll In My Sweet Babys Arms" with the best of them.
God bless
George