DAVID L. DODD
Out of Ben Graham’s Shadow
By James Russell Kelly
The September/October 1984 edition
of the Financial Analysts Journal featured
a cover story celebrating the 50th anniversary
of Graham & Dodd’s Security Analysis.
The lead article was entitled “Graham
and Dodd: A Durable Discipline,” and was
written by Roger F. Murray, their successor
at Columbia. The cover page featured
images of the two men, with Graham in
the foreground. In the March/April 1985
edition, David Dodd responded in a letter
to the editor:
The front cover of the September/
October issue of Financial Analysts
Journal very properly shows me in Ben
Graham’s shadow. Ben was my mentor
in our profession from the time in
September 1928 when I joined him as
a junior colleague in what proved to be
a very popular late afternoon course in
security analysis offered by Columbia’s
School of Business... Most of what I
know about our profession I got from
him firsthand... My debt to him is very
great indeed.
When, in 1984, I was awarded an
honorary degree by Columbia University
for my part in the preparation
of Security Analysis, I had moments of
sadness that it was I, rather than Ben,
who was being so honored. (Graham
passed away in September 1976.)
This article aspires to bring David
Dodd out of Ben Graham’s shadow by
shining a bright light on Dodd and his
accomplishments.
Courtesy of David Anderson
David L. Dodd, circa 1960.
10 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Summer 2020 | www.MoAF.org