The Weinbergs of Goldman Sachs and the Making of the Modern Corporate Board
By Lawrence A. Cunningham
Today’ s debates over corporate purpose, social responsibility and director functions may seem unprecedented and unresolvable. However, fruitful discussions of such topics were occurring 75 years ago in the aftermath of the Great Depression and World Wars. Astute voices from that era are the father and son pair of Sidney J. Weinberg and John L. Weinberg. The two served as directors of scores of public companies and as legendary leaders of Goldman Sachs for a majority of the 20th century— Sidney from 1930 to 1969 and John from 1976 to 1990( part of this time co-leading with John C. Whitehead). A decade later, John endowed the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.
Sidney Weinberg( 1891 – 1969) grew up in Brooklyn as one of 11 children of poor Jewish immigrants. He began his career at Goldman Sachs as a janitor’ s assistant. After dropping out of junior high school, his diligence and determination propelled
Sidney J. Weinberg( seated) and his son John L. Weinberg( standing) each served as senior partner of Goldman Sachs, leading the firm for a majority of the 20th century.
him through the firm’ s mailroom and onto a trading desk, ultimately leading to his role as chairman.
Sidney became senior partner of Goldman Sachs in the wake of the Great Crash of 1929 after the collapse of the Goldman Sachs Trading Corporation( GSTC). A highly leveraged subsidiary like today’ s hedge funds, GSTC was the brainchild and downfall of Goldman’ s incumbent chair, Waddill Catchings. In 1930, Sidney joined the boards of several major American companies, including General Foods( which encompassed today’ s Post Brands), B. F. Goodrich( now part of Michelin), National Dairy( later Kraft) and Sears, Roebuck.
In 1933, inspired by lawsuits against distinguished directors of the period for failing to prevent fraud, Sidney wrote a memorandum outlining 11 principles of board oversight. These principles are durable and were expanded upon in Sidney’ s influential 1949 speech to the Harvard Business School Club of Cleveland entitled“ The Functions of a Corporate Director.” During his career, Sidney was a director of at least two dozen public companies and a prominent corporate leader. His obituary appeared on the front page of The New York Times, calling him“ Mr.
Wall Street” and“ a director’ s director.” John Weinberg( 1925 – 2006), raised in Scarsdale, New York, attended Deerfield Academy. During his senior year, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and led troops in World War II while still a teenager. After his service, Weinberg enrolled in Princeton University, along with a large cohort of fellow veterans, all possessing unusually worldly experience for undergraduates. At Princeton, John’ s senior thesis, Status and Functions of Corporate Directors, clearly drew on Sidney’ s speech, as well as his circle of corporate directors and business leaders.
After graduating Princeton with honors, John attended Harvard Business School before joining Goldman Sachs in 1950. From there, he took a leave of absence to rejoin the Marines to fight in the Korean War, advancing to the rank of captain. Finally, he returned to Goldman as an investment banker where he spent the rest of his career while also serving on at least 20 boards, including some his father served on plus Goldman Sachs, Knight-Ridder, Providian Financial and YUM Brands.
John’ s thesis— which has never before been published— provides a detailed elaboration of Sidney’ s speech and memorandum( the thesis runs approximately
24 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Summer 2025 | www. MoAF. org