Frederick H. Joseph (April 22, 1937 — November 27, 2009) was the former president and chief executive officer of the investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert during the 1980s.
The Wall Street Journal noted that he was, "The son of an orthodox Jewish cab driver and a dental hygienist, Mr. Joseph was born in 1937 and grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts".
However, in 1974, Shearson was acquired by Hayden, Stone & Co. and Joseph left the firm to join Drexel Burnham Lambert as co-head of corporate finance.
Although Drexel was only a second-tier firm at the time, Joseph knew he had no hope of becoming president of what was now Shearson Hayden Stone, headed by Sanford Weill.
[2] In 2009, Portfolio.com and CNBC named Joseph the seventh-worst CEO in American business history, stating that his over-reliance on Milken's junk-bond unit "left the company without a crisis plan.