 William joined the firm aged 19 in 1933, soon after the Wall Street crash.He became a managing partner in 1963 and turned the firm into one of the "fearsome foursome that took on the elite white shoe banks such as Morgan Stanley and First Boston".He retired in 1978, passing the leadership to John Gutfreund, but regretted it when the latter led the partners into selling the firm for $554 million in 1981 to Phibro, a commodities trading house.