Daniel Drew: The Bear of Wall Street

Daniel Drew was a robber baron in every sense of the term. He loved to be hated. He was into money for the game. Making money was great, but making it while stabbing someone in the back was better, and if the victim was his partner, electrifying. Yet, he could defraud someone one day and somehow wheedle his way into the man's good graces and confidence the next. He did it more than once and the recipients were not some country bumpkins, but men such Henry Astor and Cornelius Vanderbilt. Louis Auchincloss summed him up best: Drew was a "timid, quavering, psalm-singing, prudish, revivalist fanatic who felt entirely at liberty to cheat and steal at will . . . His only faintly attractive quality was his total lack of interest in anything money could buy . . ." Award-winning author Daniel Alef tells the fascinating tale of Uncle Dan, the bear of Wall Street. [2,176-word Titans of Fortune biographical profile]