User:Zigzig20s/Lloyd Greif

Lloyd Greif (born 1955) is an American investment banker and philanthropist.

The son of Holocaust survivors, he served as the vice chairman of Sutro & Co., a California-based investment firm. He is the founder of Greif & Co., a Los Angeles, California-based investment bank which specializes in high-volume corporate mergers, including a $1.6-billion merger.

He is the namesake of Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business. He was the largest individual donor to a US-based business school in 1997. He is the recipient of many awards for his philanthropy.

Early life
Lloyd Grief was born in 1955 in Los Angeles. His parents, Mendel Berysch Greif and Herta Ernst, were Holocaust survivors. His father was born in Poland while his mother was born in Bregenz, Austria; they emigrated to the United States in 1947, settling in Los Angeles, where they founded Paris Handbag Manufacturing Co. in Downtown Los Angeles. Grief grew up in Santa Monica, California, and he was orphaned at the age of six, when his father died.

Grief graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he received a bachelor's degree in economics. He received a master in business administration in entrepreneurship from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California and a Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School.

Career
Grief worked for the supermarket chain Ralphs while in college. He started his career at Touche Ross, an accounting and consulting firm, until he joined Sutro & Co., an investment firm. Grief served as its Vice Chairman and Head of the Investment Banking Division. He resigned in 1992. Grief founded Greif & Co., his own investment bank, in 1992. It is headquartered on the 65th floor of the U.S. Bank Tower in Downtown Los Angeles.

The bank has invested in industries like "aerospace, defense, entertainment, technology, healthcare, manufacturing". Its deals include the "$1.6-billion sale of 50% of Patrón Spirits Co. to Bacardi International, the $500-million sale of Data Transmission Network Corporation, the $250-million sale of Jon Douglas Real Estate Services Group, the $250-million sale of Rose Hills Mortuary and Cemetery, the $270-million acquisition of Bumble Bee Seafoods, the $140-million acquisition of Pinkerton’s and the $135-million sale of Bristol Farms." In 1993, he merged Mrs. Gooch's Natural Food Markets, a health food company based in Sherman Oaks, California, with Whole Foods for $56 million. In 1995, he managed the investment of Shamrock Holdings, the investment company for the Disney family, in Fantastic Foods, a vegetarian food company. A year later, in 1996, he oversaw the merger of Contour Aerospace, Inc., an aircraft manufacturer.

Greif managed the merger of Fred Sands Realtors, a real estate company founded by Fred Sands, with Coldwell Banker in 2000. Two years later, in 2002, he undertook the merger of Raytek with the Fluke Corporation for $76 million. Meanwhile, he was also responsible for selling Tower Records after it went bankrupt in 2004. Five years later, in 2009, he merged Bossa Nova, an acai juice maker, with Beverage Holdings. In 2016, he undertook the sale of Dacor to Samsung Electronics.

Grief serves on the board of directors of the California Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Young Presidents' Organization and the World Presidents' Organization.

Philanthropy
Grief donated $5 million to the USC Marshall School of Business to endow the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies in 1997. It is based on the fifth floor of Jill and Frank Fertitta Hall on the USC campus. It was the largest donation made by an alumnus to a business school in the United States at the time. He serves as the chairman of its advisory council.

Grief was the recipient of the Loyola Law School Annual Alumni Association Award in 1984, the Outstanding Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the USC Entrepreneur Program in 1987, and the Corporate Excellence Award from Loyola Law School in 2000. He was the recipient of the Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin God & Country Exemplar Award from the Boy Scouts of America in 2002.

Grief received a commendation from the City of Los Angeles for his "dedication and outstanding contributions to the Los Angeles community" in 1997 and 2002.

Personal life
Grief is married to Reneé Racicot. They have two sons and a daughter. They reside in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, California. He collects art.