Boyd Jefferies
Founder, Jefferies & Company, Inc. and Jefferies Family Scholarship
1930-2001
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A Leader on Wall Street
"There is no such thing as a limit," was a common phrase uttered by Boyd Jefferies, founder of Jefferies and the Jefferies Family Scholarship. Boyd helped mold the Wall Street of today, pioneering the institutionalization of equity trading and revolutionizing the market in many ways. Boyd's incredible work ethic, astonishing drive, extreme discipline, high standards and uncanny vision are the cornerstones of the firm and the attributes exhibited in many of the Jefferies Family Scholarship recipients.
After graduating from UCLA in 1952, Boyd spent several years working on his uncle's cattle ranch, where he learned the value of hard work, before taking an Assistant Clerk position on the floor of the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange. He became a partner at Noble, Tulk, Marsh & Jefferies, before branching out on his own to form Jefferies in 1962, with just $30,000, one employee and a booth on the floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange.
When Boyd's son Stephen was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1981, he established the Stephen A. Jefferies Educational Grant Program, now the Jefferies Family Scholarship, to assist the children of Jefferies' employees in their academic pursuits. In 1987, Boyd resigned as Chief Executive Officer of Jefferies and moved to Aspen, Colorado where he helped establish a golf program for disadvantaged children. Boyd passed away in August 2001. His memory lives on in his family and in the firm and scholarship that bear his name.
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