At a loss for words, the 30 or so students in Associate Professor W. Brian Barrett’s graduate finance class gazed at each other quizzically: Was their guest speaker, legendary investor and financial analyst Mario Gabelli, serious, or was he joking?
A bemused Gabelli erased all doubts by repeating his offer to give each University of Miami Patti and Allan Herbert Business School student in Barrett’s class $1,000, so they could open Roth IRA accounts.
The 81-year-old founder, chairman and CEO of Gabelli Asset Management Company Investors has a rapier wit but tends to be deadly serious when focusing on wealth creation. Gabelli, whose firm is located in Rye, N.Y., recently visited Miami Herbert to speak to Professor Barrett’s students about finance.
Yasmin Cortes, who’s working toward her master’s degree in finance, was pleasantly surprised Gabelli’s appearance enabled her to begin prepping for her retirement years. “It was a really cool experience,” Cortes said. “I think a couple of people had to ask out loud, `Am I hearing this correctly?’”
Fellow student Valeriy Kuchuk said Gabelli’s classroom address and slide presentation on investing was “probably the best speaker experience that I’ve had at UM. It was very energetic, funny, and very informative.”
Kuchuk, who’s graduating in May with a master’s in finance, said he chuckled when Gabelli politely requested that his contribution go toward IRA accounts, as opposed to Miami Beach’s multitudinous nightclubs.
Gabelli, who was born in New York City to two Italian immigrants, appreciates firsthand the impact that caring guidance and largesse can have on a young person’s life. An inquisitive, mischievous soul during his early days, as a first-grader Gabelli had developed a habit of playing hooky from school.
“My mother, who barely spoke English, pulled me out of Public School Number Four in the Bronx and took me to a Catholic grammar school,” Gabelli remembered. The nuns at his new school warned young Mario they had a “spanking machine” for students who couldn’t seem to find their way to class.
And if that didn’t work, Gabelli was told that a nearby police station would gladly augment the school’s anti-truancy efforts. Not only did the threats end Gabelli’s habit of skipping class, they helped to hone and focus a formidable intellect.
By the time he was 13, Gabelli was toiling after school as a golf caddy to generate cash flow for savings. That put him in contact with New York Stock Exchange stock specialists who were blowing off steam after work.
“They would come and play nine holes of golf, so I’d caddy them,” Gabelli said. “I’d listen to them talk about stocks, which got me hooked.” As a teenager, Gabelli began buying shares of companies such as International Telephone & Telegraph, Beech Aircraft, and Pepsi-Cola.
“I made a lot of money,” Gabelli said matter-of-factly of his time spent caddying and investing.
Gabelli was awarded a scholarship that allowed him to attend Fordham University as an accounting major at no cost. He graduated summa cum laude in 1965, then got an MBA from Columbia University and has been paying it forward ever since.
“How did a guy from the Bronx manage to do okay?” asked Gabelli, a billionaire who in 2022 was inducted into the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., a nonprofit that encourages youths to pursue their dreams through higher education. “Basically, I was able to attend Fordham tuition-free. I also got financial aid in graduate school.”
Professor W. Brian Barrett said Gabelli “has always been eager to interact with students and help guide them toward their chosen career path. He very much appreciates education and likes to try to support that,” Barrett added of the man who’s aided Miami Herbert by establishing the Gabelli Asset Management Endowed Professorships in Finance.
Gabelli was close to the late Arthur H. Hertz, a Miami businessman who passed away in 2017 and was a senior member of the University of Miami Board of Trustees, as well as a dedicated community advocate.
To commemorate his friend, Gabelli made a gift to the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine that created the Arthur H. Hertz Endowed Chair in Liver Diseases. Gabelli also extended a helping hand to Miami Herbert by funding the Arthur H. Hertz Memorial Annual Award for a student in finance.
