By February 1930, one Wall Street broker had had enough of a good thing, was ready to get out while the getting was good. His name: Charles Edward Merrill. His firm: Merrill Lynch & Co. His fortune: a comfortable eight-digit one. Out of broking, Merrill Lynch continued as an underwriting and investment house, specializing in equity securities of growing chain-store systems. Its babies: Safeway Stores, First National Stores, McCrory Stores, Lerner, Kresge, Western Auto Supply.
Heir to Merrill Lynch's brokerage business was E. A. Pierce & Co., whose handsomely pompadoured, soft-spoken Edward...
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