Financier and philanthropist, former chairman and CEO, Citigroup
Born: March 16, 1933, New York City
Education: Bachelor's in government, Cornell University
Sandy Weill was arguably the financial industry's master dealmaker of his time. His triumph was to have built two financial services empires like no others at the time—one, Shearson, a giant; the other, Citigroup, a colossus. His tragedy is that both would be brought low as he watched from afar.
Citigroup was intended to be the crowning accomplishment of Weill's half-century of dealmaking on Wall Street. Through mergers and acquisitions, he built the first financial supermarket since the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act walled off banks from other financial institutions, such as securities firms and insurers. At the heart of his creation was America's largest bank.