Henry Swieca

Swieca grew up in a Jewish family[3] in Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York. He is the son of two Holocaust survivors from Poland who emigrated from France in 1955.[4] Both his parents died when he was nineteen.[4] Swieca's mother died of Lou Gehrig's disease; within months, his father died from a heart attack. Through an uncle who was a dentist and avid stock investor, Swieca was introduced to financial markets. Now orphaned, Swieca turned to the stock market to pay for his education and that of his younger brother. With $50,000 of inheritance, he bought 1,000 shares in Warner Communications, nearly his entire wealth at the time. He then used the shares as collateral to invest in option based trading strategies, and in the process gained a strong understanding of risk management while also generating additional investment income. He held the Warner shares for two years, doubling his money.

Swieca was later accepted into Columbia Business School on a two-year deferment. He used that time to travel and work abroad, and accept a job at Merrill Lynch — a position he found by knocking on the doors of investment banks throughout Manhattan. "I told them I was hungry and would work for very little money," Swieca said. "I had no connections; I had to hustle and struggle."

Swieca began his career trading stocks with $50,000 that his parents left for him. He was able to support his brother through medical school with the money he made from investing. After graduation, Swieca worked at Merrill Lynch, becoming one of the founding traders on the New York Futures Exchange where he traded equity index options. He later joined Dillon Read as an institutional investor advisor.

Swieca is on the board of The National World War II Museum and the board of The Columbia Graduate School of Business.

Swieca is married to Israeli American[9] Estee Tobaly with whom he has four children.[4] Swieca practices Orthodox Judaism.[10] Swieca owns a summer residence in Atlantic Beach, New York.