B Gerald Cantor

In the world of business, B. Gerald Cantor (1916-1996) was founder and chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald, a global securities firm with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Toronto, Paris, and London. In 1972 Cantor Fitzgerald invented screen bond brokerage, the revolutionary practice of displaying live market information on computer screens. In 1983 Cantor Fitzgerald became the first company to offer worldwide screen bond brokerage services in United States government securities. Born in New York in 1916, Mr. Cantor studied law and finance at New York University and entered the securities business in 1934. In 1945, after returning from the Army, he founded B.G. Cantor & Co. Mr. Cantor received honorary doctorates of fine arts from Gonzaga University and the College of the Holy Cross, where he served as a regent of the President's Council. In 1986 he was awarded an honorary degree by Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus. He served as a trustee, then trustee emeritus of The Metropolitan Museum of Art; a trustee, then honorary life trustee, of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and a member of the Business Committee for the Arts.