The firm was founded as
Carl M. Loeb & Co. by
Jewish father
Carl M. Loeb and son
John Langeloth Loeb Sr. in 1931, shortly after the onset of the
Great Depression. Carl M. Loeb & Co. merged with
Rhoades & Company, a
white shoe Wall Street brokerage firm, in 1937 to form what became Loeb, Rhoades & Co. Rhoades & Company had been founded in 1905 by John Harsen Rhoades Jr. (born 1869), formerly a partner of Rhoades & Richmond. The firm operated under the Loeb, Rhoades name from 1937 through 1979 when it briefly used the name Shearson Loeb Rhoades, for two years prior to its acquisition by
American Express in 1981. Carl Loeb, who had built his personal wealth as president of
American Metal Company resigned from the company and bought a seat on the
New York Stock Exchange, at the urging of his son John in 1931. While on the New York Stock Exchange, he pushed through many reforms. Three years after Loeb left American Metals, the company's stock was nearly worthless. Together with his son, Carl ran Loeb, Rhoades for its first 24 years, from 1931 until his death in 1955. John L. Loeb was a partner in the firm from 1931 to 1955 and following the death of his father became the senior partner, a role which he retained through 1977 when the firm was merged. In 1951, John Loeb became a governor of the
New York Stock Exchange. In 1956, Loeb, Rhoades acquired a controlling interest in the
Cuban Atlantic Sugar Company and sold its stake on December 31, 1958, a day before the
Cuban Revolution. In 1981, Shearson Loeb Rhoades bought the Boston Company holding company of the Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Co., a money manager. The same year, Weill sold the combined company to
American Express to form
Shearson/American Express. ==Loeb Partners Corporation==