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JUDSON J. CAVALIER: The Laid-Back Approach

 

A couple of days after pledging his fraternity, Sigma Beta, and moving into his room at the University of New Hampshire, Judson J. Cavalier bought a bed. More precisely, said his college roommate and fraternity brother, Nathan Sloan, it was a mattress, and Mr. Cavalier never bothered to get the box spring or the frame. "He was, like, what you would call laid back," Mr. Sloan mused.

So laid back that the university invited him to take a semester off to think about his commitment to academics. With a friend, Mr. Cavalier went to Vail, Colo., where he figured he could ski a lot, and took a job as a ski-boot salesman. "He made phenomenal money. Everybody knew he was a good worker," Mr. Sloan said. "He just didn't sweat the stuff he didn't have to sweat."

Mr. Cavalier, 26, did graduate, and was hired by Thomas F. O'Neill, his next-door neighbor growing up in Huntington, N.Y., and a founder of Sandler O'Neill & Partners. He was about to be promoted from bond research to salesman. "Being a bond salesman, you made a lot of money and you played golf with the guys," said another childhood friend, Ian Crystal. "That was perfect for Judd. He was there."

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From "Profiles in Grief" of The New York Times