Morris Abraham Schapiro

Morris A. Schapiro, an investment banker whose Wall Street savvy enabled him to arrange the mergers of several of America's largest banks, died on Monday at his apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He was 93.

He was also well known in New York as a major benefactor of Columbia University, his alma mater.

Few executives have had as much impact on the banking industry as Mr. Schapiro. As president of his own investment banking firm, M. A. Schapiro & Company, he not only established new business techniques for the banking industry, but was also instrumental in mating some of its largest players.

Among his two biggest transactions were the merger of the Chase Bank and the Bank of Manhattan in 1955 and the merger of Chemical Bank and New York Trust four years later. On both deals, Mr. Schapiro followed his traditional strategy. He recommended the two banks' stocks to affluent clients, then asked them to press the banks' managements to agree to a deal.

The strategy caused some of Mr. Schapiro's rivals to label him the bank liquidator, a nickname that was more an honor than a jab. Although he arranged some of the largest business deals in the 1950's, Mr. Schapiro never received a fee for his services; rather, he took his profits from the exchange of stock.

It must be remembered that the bank stockholder is not wedded to banking as a business, Mr. Schapiro said during a speech in 1949. His sole concern is with the value of his investment.

While Mr. Schapiro may have been disliked by some bank chairmen, who feared their companies would be put into play, he was adored by his colleagues. Once, while vacationing in Maine, Mr. Schapiro, a man of boundless energy, telephoned in and spoke with everyone in the office, then had the switchboard connect him to some of his business associates on Wall Street.

Mr. Schapiro was also known for his small kindnesses. His 50 employees at his 2 firms received free lunches every day, a practice that is virtually unheard of along Wall Street today.

Morris Abraham Schapiro was born in Lithuania in 1903 and came to the United States in 1907. The family lived in the Brownsville and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn, where Mr. Schapiro's father worked as a paper and cordage wholesaler and wrote articles on philosophical subjects.

Early school friends remember Mr. Schapiro as an astute student in mathematics and Latin, but he had far less interest in reading than did his younger brother, Meyer, who later became a professor at Columbia University and one of the world's leading art historians. Meyer Schapiro died last March.

In Morris Schapiro's spare time, he learned to play chess, well. At 16, He entered Columbia University on a Pulitzer Scholarship and led the university chess team to four national championships. His love for chess was so great that while he was courting his wife, Alma Binion Cahn, a painter, he would sometimes arrive at her house and spend the evening playing chess with her father.

Mr. Schapiro received an advanced degree from Columbia University in engineering in 1925. Over the years, Mr. Schapiro became one of the university's largest benefactors, contributing money for Schapiro Hall, a dormitory, and the Morris A. Schapiro Center for Engineering and Physical Science Research.

Mr. Schapiro's wife died in 1987, after 58 years of marriage. He is survived by a daughter, Linda Collins of Manhattan; a son, Dr. Daniel Schapiro of Manhattan, four grandsons and one great-grandson.

New York Times: written by David Morrow Dec 28, 1996

• Residence: Brooklyn Assembly District 18, Kings, New York - 1920
  • Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Dec 29 2016, 4:34:13 UTC