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MER 56.95 - 0.06
12/19/03 2:39:00 PM ET

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REUTERS
Rich and famous mourn Wall Street's John Mulheren
Reuters, 12.19.03, 2:57 PM ET


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By Brendan Intindola

RUMSON, New Jersey, Dec 19 (Reuters) - An estimated 1,500 mourners -- from Wall Street titans to rock-and-roll royalty -- gathered on Friday for the funeral service of John Mulheren, the legendary and controversial financier and philanthropist.

Rock stars Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi were among those attending the funeral, held at Holy Cross Church, a modest chapel in the affluent community of Rumson, located on the Jersey shore, 25 miles south of Wall Street -- where Mulheren earned both fame and notoriety, beginning in the early 1980s.

Mulheren, one of Wall Street's brightest and most colorful figures, died Monday of a heart attack. He was 54.

Among his notable achievements was being named a managing director at Merrill Lynch & Co. (nyse: MER - news - people) at 25. He later became the chief executive of Bear Wagner Specialists, one of seven New York Stock Exchange specialist trading firms.

But for all his brilliance as a trader and the enormous sums of money he made, Mulheren was swept into a highly publicized controversy related to fellow Wall Street icon Ivan Boesky. Mulheren was dragged into the Boesky scandal after Boesky implicated him in a massive trading fraud case.

Mulheren, apparently suffering from manic depression, was caught by police in 1988 with weapons in his vehicle, and he was threatening to kill Boesky and his chief trader.

Mulheren was indicted in 1989 on conspiracy and fraud charges for buying a block of Gulf & Western stock in 1985, sending the share price up. Boesky apparently made a killing on the shares of Gulf & Western he owned. In 1990, Mulheren was convicted.

But the conviction was overturned in 1991 and the charges were later erased from Mulheren's record after he participated in an intervention program.

Mulheren's troubles, though not ignored at the service, were not upper most on people's minds on Friday.

"It was a life well lived. He was a financial genius who held his head high," said Kenneth Langone, a long-time member of the New York Stock Exchange board and co-founder of Home Depot Inc. (nyse: HD - news - people)

A-LIST CROWD

Langone was one of many well-known Wall Street figures who attended the funeral on Friday.

Among them were James Cayne, chairman of Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. (nyse: BSC - news - people), the firm that is a partner in Bear Wagner Specialists; Alan "Ace" Greenberg, former Bear Stearns chairman, who spoke at the service, and William Johnston, former president and chief operating officer of the New York Stock Exchange.

Mr. Bon Jovi, a fellow resident of Rumson and lead singer of the rock band Bon Jovi, was among the long line of mourners who stood outside waiting to enter the gray, shingled church.

The line of mourners, which stretched for blocks, contained a mix of suits and blue jeans, a testament to Mulheren's personality. He befriended white-collar bankers, blue-collar workers, neighbors, and rock stars.

The Ocean County Emerald Society Pipes & Drums played outside the church before the service. Inside, Nils Lofgren, a member of Springsteen's E Street Band, sang "Wind Beneath My Wings."

Springsteen, wearing a red shirt, closed the ceremony with a request from Mulheren's wife -- a rendition of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town."

During his eulogy, Father Joseph Hughes said Mulheren was "generous, crazy, unpredictable, loving and kind.

"Just by his very nature, he was born to give," Hughes said, adding that Mulheren's generosity often came "through quiet deeds most of us will never know."

Hughes also referred to Mulheren's manic depression.

Mulheren spent most of his early life in Redbank, New Jersey, and later, seven miles west in Rumson, where he was known for both his philanthropy and large land holdings.

He was born in New York on June 20, 1949, the second of six children. He is survived by his wife, Nancy, and seven children. (Additional reporting by Michael Flaherty)

Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service


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