Alan C. Greenberg  Alan Courtney "Ace" Greenberg (September 3, 1927 – July 25, 2014) was a chairman of the executive committee of The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc.  Greenberg was born in Wichita, Kansas but raised in Oklahoma City in an upper-middle-class neighborhood, one of three children of Theodore and Esther Greenberg. His father owned a woman's clothing store and was part of an extended family that operated clothing stores in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Greenberg first attended the University of Oklahoma on a football scholarship. After injuring his back, he transferred to the University of Missouri, from which he graduated with a B.A. in business in 1949. Greenberg pursued a career on Wall Street after college, accepting a position as a clerk at Bear Stearns for $32.50 per week. Greenberg rose through the ranks of Bear Stearns eventually serving as its CEO from 1978 to 1993 and Chairman of the Board from 1985 to 2001. Greenberg also served as a non-executive director of Viacom. He was the author of "Memos from the Chairman", which is a compilation of memos he issued to the associates of Bear Stearns during his tenure as CEO. In 1969, Greenberg hired James Cayne as a stockbroker at Bear Stearns. In 1993, Greenberg was ousted and replaced as CEO by Cayne. Cayne served as CEO until January 2008 and was succeeded by Alan Schwartz, who oversaw the firm's demise in March 2008. While serving as chairman of the executive committee of Bear Stearns, Greenberg oversaw the collapse of the company in March 2008. He was subsequently involved in the talks with JPMorgan Chase which eventually bought out the failing company. "Fortune" reported that Greenberg agreed to join JPMC as vice chairman of Bear's retail business. Greenberg was the financier of Kaufman and Greenberg, a company he set up with Richard Kaufman to publish magic books. Alan Greenberg was married twice:  On 25 July 2014, Greenberg died of cancer. Greenberg was an avid bridge player, having won the Reisinger Board-a-Match Teams in 1977. In 1981, he won the Maccabiah Games teams bridge tournament and was second in the Reisinger later that year. Alan C. Greenberg scrapbooks at New-York Historical Society