Sir Dennis Weatherstone Remembered

Financial products or services are your game? Heed a warning Dennis Weatherstone liked to dispense:

"If you're not confused, you don't understand the business."

Weatherstone, former head of JP Morgan, died June 13. He worked hard and successfully to break down the wall between commercial banks and investment banks. Repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act may no longer seem a no-brainer (who knew banks weren't ready for subprime time?) but restoring the wall seems unlikely if not impossible.

In PBS-speak, Weatherstone's early life was more Inspector Lewis than Inspector Morse. He became a bank clerk right after finishing high school. Sir Dennis was knighted by his Queen in 1990, the same year he ascended to the top job at JP Morgan.

See Robin Sidel's remembrance of Sir Dennis in The Wall Street Journal and his obituary in The New York Times.

Updated April 1, 2011