Benjamin Howell Griswold III ’33

Ben, who led the investment firm Alex. Brown & Sons for more than three decades, and was a decorated World War II veteran and steeplechase rider, died Jan. 14, 2006. He was 93.

A great-great-great-grandson of Irish-born linen merchant Alexander Brown, Ben directed the investment firm's conversion to a corporation in 1983 after 178 years as a partnership. He had overseen its 1974 acquisition of another old Baltimore business, Robert Garrett & Sons.

Born in Baltimore, Ben was a 1929 Gilman School graduate, earning a bachelor's degree from Princeton the year that Alex. Brown & Sons purchased a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, where he would serve as a director for three years in the 1950s.

Ben became Alex. Brown's senior partner in 1946 and retained that position until his 1979 retirement. In 1951, Ben was named a trustee of Johns Hopkins University, a post he held for many years.

Ben is survived by the former Arabella Leith Symington, his wife of nearly 70 years; his sons, Jack "Jay" Symington Griswold and Benjamin Howell Griswold IV; his daughters, Lelia Leith Griswold and Nancy Griswold Knox; and 11 grandchildren.

The Class of 1933