Bleeding Green: The Fall of Fuld

Fuld: The 'Digital Mind Trader'

"This is for my people. Lehman stand! Troops, be recognized. Everyone at Lehman in this room, stand and be recognized," he said.

According to Foerster, now the president of South Beach Capital Markets in Miami, Fuld proved himself long before Lehman's success could be seen on paper.

In 1984, Lehman was acquired by American Express. Ten years later, Lehman was spun off, but its newly regained independence didn't come without some significant stumbling blocks, including in-fighting.

"We're lucky we survived and I think we did it on the back and on the strength of Dick's leadership," Foerster said. "He started to create a feeling of togetherness. ... A culture of the client was more important than the firm, and the firm was more important than the individual."

Fuld's growing reputation as a leader, however, came as a surprise to observers such as Ken Auletta, media critic for New Yorker magazine and the author of the 1986 book "Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman," which chronicled the events that led to Lehman's purchase by American Express.

Fuld joined Lehman as a trader in 1969. He eventually became known as the "digital mind trader," Auletta told ABCNews.com, in part because the amount of time he spent with his eyes locked on his computer screen.

Fuld was also known for his bruising talk toward the firm's investment banking side. He joined other traders in being frustrated, Auletta said, that the firms' trading division received just a third of the firm's profits even though it brought in three-quarters of its revenue.

"He exuded hostility," Auletta said.

Yet somehow, Fuld changed. After American Express' acquisition of the firm, many Lehman employees fled. But Fuld, Auletta said, became a favorite at the company and also played a part in keeping Lehman's name intact.

"They saw that Fuld had talent and they rewarded him for it," Auletta said, "and he helped convince them to re-create the Lehman brand."

In 1990, he became a co-chief executive of what was then known as the Lehman Brothers division of American Express' brokerage business.

"One of the ironies is that Fuld was a polarizing figure, then somehow became more of a leader able to harmonize and lead both the investment banking side and the trading side of Lehman Brothers," Auletta said. For all Lehman's successes, by the spring of this year it was clear that, as for other financial firms, investing in risky loans -- namely residential and commercial mortgages -- was hurting the firm.