Personal History
David LeFevre Dodd was born on August
23, 1895 in Martinsburg, WV, a small
town in the northeast panhandle of the
state. He was the second of four children
of David H. Dodd (1855–1953) and Mary
V. Shaffer (1857–1944). His father was a
stern, demanding teacher and long-term
principal of High Street High School in
Martinsburg, where young David graduated.
This may explain his son’s life-long
interest in teaching.
Dodd enrolled in the University of
Pennsylvania to study economics, but his
education was interrupted by World War
I. In June 1917, he joined the US Navy and
served in Florida for a year as chief yeoman
and boatswain, before being transferred to
the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, for
a three-month intensive officer training
program. In September 1918, he was commissioned
an ensign and assigned to the
USS Harrisburg, a troop transport ship
that brought US troops home from France
after the armistice in November 1918. He
served on active duty until July 1919, when
he resumed his university studies.
He received a Bachelor of Science in
economics in February 1920. The Pennsylvania
Gazette noted that his degree,
along with those of 43 other economics
graduates, was retroactive “as the class of
1918,” indirectly acknowledging their time
served in the military.
Columbia University (1920–1961)
Dodd wasted no time after graduation in
pursuing an academic career in economics.
He moved to New York and enrolled
in Columbia University’s master’s degree
program in economics in 1920 and
received his degree the following year.
Upon graduation, he worked briefly as
a research assistant in economics at the
National Bank of Commerce in New
York. In 1922, he returned to Columbia
University as an instructor in economics.
Dodd married Elsie Marguerite Firor
from Washington, DC in 1924. The couple
lived initially at 540 W. 123rd Street, and
for many years later at 39 Claremont Avenue,
both near the Columbia University
campus in Morningside Heights. Their
daughter, Barbara, was born in 1932.
Dodd’s focus evolved from economics
to finance in 1925, when he became an
instructor in finance at Columbia Business
School. It was in this capacity that he met
Benjamin Graham and began a lifelong
partnership. Graham recalls their early
collaboration in his memoirs:
Courtesy of David Anderson
Dodd family circa 1928–1930. David L. Dodd, top row, third from right with his two brothers, Earle and Donald
on each side. Elsie M. Dodd (wife), middle row, left. David H. Dodd (father), bottom row.
www.MoAF.org | Summer 2020 | FINANCIAL HISTORY 11