Richard H. Driehaus*

Richard Driehaus was born in Chicago in 1942. His mother, Margaret, had three children and was a good wife and loving homemaker. His father, Herman, was a mechanical engineer who designed coal-mining equipment. They lived in a third-floor apartment until 1948 when they moved to a bungalow in an Irish Catholic neighborhood on Chicago's southwest side.

Driehaus's parents were older than his friends' parents. In fact, at the time his parents married, his father was 45 and had already had one heart attack. When Driehaus was seven and in second grade, his father suffered a second heart attack. "My father never fully recovered from this second attack," he said. "My mother had to return to work as an executive secretary to support us. We qualified for some financial help from St. Vincent de Paul through our local church. With my father needing to go to a nursing home, his brother, Ade, paid for the years that he was there so we didn't have to commit him to a state institution."

Driehaus's mother was the second oldest of three children in her birth family. During the Great Depression, she was the only one in the family with a job.

Although the father's name was on 24 patents, for which he received a nominal $1, the severity of his heart attacks left him unable to work during Driehaus's high school years. By the time his father was in his early sixties, he was suffering from dementia and Parkinson's disease, and he needed permanent nursing care.

At the age of 12, Driehaus began working as a paperboy for the Southtown Economist. It was about this time that he realized his parents had limited financial resources. The nuns at his Catholic grammar school had told him he was responsible for his own actions. To Driehaus, that meant the choice of his future career would determine how well he could provide for his future family. He knew he did not have the talent or interest in being a doctor, a lawyer, or an accountant. He wanted a career that would give him earnings that were based on the successes he achieved for his clients.

Driehaus began investing in coins when he was 13, using money from his paper route to buy, and then sell, uncirculated coins and proof sets. One evening, he was looking through the afternoon paper when he discovered a page with corporate names and columns of numbers, showing pluses and minuses. His father explained that those were quotes from the New York Stock Exchange. Young Driehaus sought advice from his Uncle Ade, who had investments in the market.

"I knew I'd found my future career," said Driehaus. "It would be a way to earn money based on my commitment and performance. It was an industry that offered unlimited potential."

Following his mother's advice to "investigate before you invest," Driehaus began reading about and following the market. At the library, he pored through various publications such as the Magazine of Wall Street, Forbes, Financial World, Business Week, and Fortune.

He was particularly struck by the quote always placed under the Forbes editorials: "With all thy getting, get understanding." Driehaus said, "It's a quote I never forgot; a message I took to heart. I continued my research throughout my teens and began to understand more of the dynamics of the market on the basis of stock fundamentals, technical information, and market movements."

By the time he was 14, Driehaus had just over $2,000 in liquid reserves from his paper route. Hoping to invest in the market, he consulted his uncle's broker and invested half his assets: 20 shares of Sperry Rand and 15 shares of Union Tank Car Company. One was growth-oriented, and the other was dividend-driven.

Driehaus took interest in small companies that had more potential for growth than larger, well-established ones. "I also looked at stocks that were trading well, were growing faster, and had improving prospects," he said. "I realized early on what I wanted to do with my life. I was eager to start."

A lifelong Catholic, Driehaus attended St. Margaret of Scotland grammar school, where he was influenced by the sisters. "I remember when I was in the fifth grade, they asked me who was my role model," he said. "At the time, I thought about people in sports, politics, business, and other professions. No one stood out. I wanted to respond, but couldn't. The sisters never ended up calling on me for an answer. Still, the question persisted in my mind. It was nearly 40 years later when I realized my role models were Mom, Dad and the School Sisters of Notre Dame."

When Driehaus was ready for high school, his mother insisted that he go to St. Ignatius College Prep, where his older cousin attended. The school was 10 miles away. Driehaus traveled by bus one hour each way every day. He also worked on the docks of a wholesale grocery firm, earning $2.75 an hour to save for college. He was still working there when he began junior college. Not long after transferring to DePaul University, where he majored in finance, he found his highest paying job yet, earning $4.50 per hour as a proofreader. He graduated from DePaul with a bachelor's degree in 1965. He also later earned his MBA at DePaul.

Eager to start his career, Driehaus received one rejection after another. Potential employers told him repeatedly there were no openings in finance and none anticipated. After trying conventional routes, he placed a classified ad in the Wall Street Journal for $52.75 to gain attention. His idea worked. A one-man employment agency, Rothschild & Co., saw the ad and hired Driehaus at $450 a month. Three years later, Driehaus joined a much larger firm, A. G. Becker & Co. Within 18 months, he became one of Becker's youngest portfolio managers in the pension and profit-sharing plan. "That is where I got my first opportunity to manage money," said Driehaus. "I was intuitive and driven. I had clear goals."

Driehaus moved to a few smaller firms as director of research throughout the 1970s before starting his own firm, Driehaus Securities Corporation LLC, in 1979. In 1982, he formed a second company, Driehaus Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm widely known for the growth style of momentum investing. In 2000, Driehaus appeared in Barron's as part of its "All-Century" team of the 25 most influential mutual fund managers of the past 100 years.

"I have been described as a self-made man. It's important to note that I had wonderful mentors and supporters throughout my life," he said.

Driehaus advised young people to listen, learn, be curious, and take responsibility for their actions. He added: "There are no shortcuts to success. You have to be prepared for the opportunities that come your way and commit to making the most of each. To paraphrase Benjamin Disraeli, '˜Success is constancy to purpose.'"