Baker Watts

George Mallette Ferris Jr., whose career in the investment business spanned nearly six decades and who was chairman of the board of the investment firm of Ferris, Baker Watts Inc., died of a heart attack Monday at the company's Washington office. He was 81. In 1950, Mr. Ferris joined the Washington-based investment firm of Ferris & Co. that was established by his father in 1932; it became one of the nation's capital's oldest and largest investment banking firms. He spent most of his career working in the firm's Washington office at 1700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, where he had been CEO until stepping down in 1997, family members said.

Richard Paul Sullivan , a former chairman and CEO of Easco Corp. who had been active in Republican state politics and civic affairs, died Sunday of cancer at his Owings Mills home. The longtime Guilford resident was 79. Mr. Sullivan, whose father was president of the American Girl Shoe Co. and whose mother was a homemaker, was born and raised in Newton, Mass. After graduating in 1950 from St. Sebastian's School in Milton, Mass., he earned a bachelor's degree in 1954 in marine engineering from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

An administrative law judge has dismissed allegations that the former general counsel of Ferris, Baker Watts Inc., Theodore W. Urban, failed in his supervision of a broker who was subsequently convicted in a fraud that cost clients millions of dollars. The judge's opinion, filed this week, could mark the end of the last federal prosecution into the trading scandal that revealed a lack of leadership, an unclear chain of command and missed opportunities to stop the scheme at the former Baltimore brokerage firm.

Arnold Vincent Preston, a former partner of Baker, Watts & Co. who later founded his own investment firm, died Monday of cancer at his Brooklandville home. He was 84. Mr. Preston, the son of an engineer and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Ellicott City. A talented athlete, Mr. Preston was a member of the Maryland All-Star Football Team in 1944 and was a two-time All-Maryland tackle while a student at Calvert Hall College High School. After graduating from Calvert Hall in 1945, he began his college studies at Bucknell University.

Ferris, Baker Watts Inc. has never had a problem taking the path less traveled. When other brokerage houses rushed to offer clients trading over the Internet, Ferris Baker Watts passed, opting to work with clients face to face. When firms closed their municipal bond underwriting businesses, Ferris Baker Watts kept its open, though business has been cutthroat. And as competitors began selling out to giant banks at high premiums, company officials didn't think twice, even though some employees could have cashed in big. The firm may not be the biggest or flashiest brokerage house in the industry, but on Wednesday, it celebrates its 100th year in business -- a testament not only to management's ability, but to its will to survive even in the toughest times.

Ferris, Baker Watts Inc., a Baltimore-area investment company, bought $19.6 million in Carroll County bonds Tuesday at an interest rate of 5.7 percent, the county comptroller said."

Paul "Skip" Geidel, the chief financial officer of the brokerage firm Ferris, Baker Watts Inc., died from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound Thursday evening in his Fairfax County, Va., home, police said.Geidel, 51, was fatally wounded in his upper body, said Warren Carmichael, director of public information for the Fairfax County Police Department. Carmichael would not confirm whether a suicide note was found.Geidel apparently was found about 7 p.m. Thursday by his wife, Fran, who had last seen him that morning.

Call it the calm after the storm.Activity on the trading room floor at the Baltimore office of brokerage Ferris, Baker Watts Inc. was orderly and relatively sedate yesterday, one day after the Dow Jones industrials shed 512.61 points in its second-worst point drop ever.Even during Monday's precipitous plunge, Ferris, Baker Watts traders say composure was the order of the day in their ninth-floor sanctum in the Legg Mason building downtown: a place where the players have pet nicknames for stocks and each other, try to fake out their counterparts at other local firms, and occasionally bark out orders for stocks -- but only "occasionally," since computers now execute most of the orders once processed by hand.

Ferris, Baker Watts' parent announced yesterday that it has replaced the Baltimore brokerage firm's chief executive and chief operating officers, three months after the firm was acquired. RBC Wealth Management, a division of Royal Bank of Canada that bought Ferris for more than $230 million, said the president of its private client group took over as president and CEO of Ferris on Monday. Jim Chapman succeeds Roger Calvert, who had been CEO since 2001 and a Ferris employee for 34 years.

The parent of regional brokerage Ferris, Baker Watts has committed up to $35 million to cover losses of clients who invested in the Reserve Primary Fund, a money-market mutual fund that was frozen last week after its net asset value dipped below $1 per share. The fund became the first widely used money-market fund in decades to "break the buck," with its value falling to 97 cents a share Sept. 16. The decline was triggered by the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy last week, which wiped out a Primary Fund investment in Lehman debt.

An administrative law judge has dismissed allegations that the former general counsel of Ferris, Baker Watts Inc., Theodore W. Urban, failed in his supervision of a broker who was subsequently convicted in a fraud that cost clients millions of dollars. The judge's opinion, filed this week, could mark the end of the last federal prosecution into the trading scandal that revealed a lack of leadership, an unclear chain of command and missed opportunities to stop the scheme at the former Baltimore brokerage firm.

SEC to investigate former Ferris, Baker Watts counsel The Securities and Exchange Commission Monday said it would hold a hearing into allegations that Theodore W. Urban, former general counsel of Ferris, Baker Watts Inc., had failed to properly supervise a broker who has since been convicted of securities fraud. Urban, 58, of Silver Spring had repeatedly been warned about unauthorized trades and the questionable activities of broker Stephen Glantz, yet ignored them, the SEC said. Glantz, who worked for Ferris for nearly three years, pleaded guilty in 2007 to securities fraud and lying to law enforcement officials.

Murray J. Adams, Jr., well known vintage car collector and a respected contributor/member of the Catonsville Community for the last 50 plus years, was married to Ms. Gloria Nuestro Uy in a civil ceremony in Towson, MD on 12/23/08, followed by a Dinner Reception. Murray is a graduate of St. Paul's School, Calvert Hall College, University of Baltimore, and New York Institute of Finance. Murray is a former Financial Controller of Baker Watts & Co., and CEO of his firm, American Senior Financial Services, now retired living in the High Fields section of Catonsville.

George Mallette Ferris Jr., whose career in the investment business spanned nearly six decades and who was chairman of the board of the investment firm of Ferris, Baker Watts Inc., died of a heart attack Monday at the company's Washington office. He was 81. In 1950, Mr. Ferris joined the Washington-based investment firm of Ferris & Co. that was established by his father in 1932; it became one of the nation's capital's oldest and largest investment banking firms. He spent most of his career working in the firm's Washington office at 1700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, where he had been CEO until stepping down in 1997, family members said.

Ferris, Baker Watts' parent announced yesterday that it has replaced the Baltimore brokerage firm's chief executive and chief operating officers, three months after the firm was acquired. RBC Wealth Management, a division of Royal Bank of Canada that bought Ferris for more than $230 million, said the president of its private client group took over as president and CEO of Ferris on Monday. Jim Chapman succeeds Roger Calvert, who had been CEO since 2001 and a Ferris employee for 34 years.

The parent of regional brokerage Ferris, Baker Watts has committed up to $35 million to cover losses of clients who invested in the Reserve Primary Fund, a money-market mutual fund that was frozen last week after its net asset value dipped below $1 per share. The fund became the first widely used money-market fund in decades to "break the buck," with its value falling to 97 cents a share Sept. 16. The decline was triggered by the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy last week, which wiped out a Primary Fund investment in Lehman debt.

The stock market's opening bell was 20 minutes away, and broker Mark V. Dyer sat forward in his desk chair, elbows on knees, head down.He concentrated on a voice crackling over the squawk box on his desk. It was Rob Brown, Ferris, Baker Watts' market analyst, who was setting the stage for stock trading the day after oone of the market's worst plunges."The rising tide lifting all ships is over," Brown's voice hissed through the speaker, sounding far away and hollow like a World War II announcer.

M&T Bank yesterday announced it has hired 15 specialists who had made up the core of the municipal bond department of regional brokerage Ferris, Baker Watts Inc. The hires, which occurred during the past month, allow Buffalo-based M&T to expand into the fixed-rate municipal bond business. All but one of the bond specialists will work in Maryland. "It's a terrific fit," said Atwood "Woody" Collins III, president of M&T Bank's Mid-Atlantic Division. "This gives us the full spectrum of municipal bond underwriting, sales and trading."