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Christopher Ciafardini: A Blind Love for His Job

 

From his older brother Dominic's vantage point, Christopher Ciafardini was "the ultimate stimulus junkie." At the age of 9, his fascination with bicycling inspired him to complete a 100-mile race. Then he quit biking and fixated on comics and becoming a cartoonist. During his weight-lifter phase, he presented his mother with a subscription to Muscle & Fitness magazine one Mother's Day as a way of sharing his hobby du jour; she was thrilled when he outgrew it.

Studying was never a forte until college, when his attention turned to finance. To the family's surprise, Mr. Ciafardini found a passion that stuck and carried him through graduate school at Cornell University into a real-life version of his favorite film, "Wall Street." He and his friends began living out a game called "Who Retires First?"

Last spring, Mr. Ciafardini, 30, joined Fred Alger Management as a financial analyst, and in August was promoted to vice president. He had a closet full of Brooks Brothers suits he could not wait to jump into each weekday morning and had just gotten his first passport, a hint that international finance was his next niche.

"He was one of those typical Wall Street guys who worked 18-hour days and loved it," said Dominic Ciafardini. "It wasn't just a job to him; it was his identity."

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From "Profiles in Grief" of The New York Times