Trailblazing stock market adviser Geraldine Weiss taught her granddaughter how to be a boss

Story Transcript

Shenandoah Weiss says her grandmother wasn't like most grandmothers — and she wouldn't have it any other way. 

Geraldine Weiss — a trailblazing stock market adviser — died on Monday at her home in San Diego, the New York Times reports. She was 96.

According to the Times, Weiss ignored those who told her she should be a secretary and instead followed her passion, launching a successful stock market investment newsletter in 1966.

She published Investment Quality Trends under the name G. Weiss for a full decade, allowing her subscribers to believe she was man, before revealing her gender in a PBS interview in 1977. She became known as "the grande dame of dividends."

Her granddaughter, who runs her own executive coaching business, spoke to As It Happens guest host Dave Seglins. Here is part of their conversation.

What was it like growing up and having the grande dame of dividends as your grandmother?

Probably a different version of grandmotherly-ness that many people had growing up. [chuckles].

But, you know, I have to think that it shaped me in some ways, right? Being able to go to my grandmother's office and see her at the big office table and knowing that she was the boss and seeing a big bull and bear [behind] her. 

That was just a day-to-day thing. It was normal. That was my experience of what my grandmother did.

A big bull and bear behind her. What do you mean?

She had, like, a piece of art behind her that was a bull and a bear that kind of merged together. 

There was just a sense of powerfulness about her presence and about the space that she operated in. And, yeah, she was just really full of life, full of panache.

I've seen some pictures. She never wore boring, I understand.

She definitely never wore boring, yeah. She loved colour. She loved the colour purple. She loved a leopard print, an animal print. She loved her jewels.

She was definitely about living life with vim and vigor [laughs].

She wasn't afraid to speak her mind and she wasn't afraid to live life the way that she thought it ought to be lived.- Shenandoah Weiss

But more than the cosmetic, what was it like to see her in command at her office?

My grandma just was never shy about sharing her opinion, you know, whether you wanted it or not.

My memories of her, being very little and being in her office, was just that she was the boss. If she didn't like something, she said it. She had a commanding presence and was never afraid just to speak her mind.

But your grandmother didn't start her famous newsletter until she was about 40. What did she do before then?

Her two greatest loves are her family and her business. And so I think she just spent that part of her life really focused on on her family. And then, when [her children] were, I think, old enough and timing allowed, she really wanted to grow her business self. And she did.

How did she eventually start the newsletter, Investment Quality Trends?

She always likes to say she was self-taught. She took herself to the San Diego Library and read every book on investments that she could. She went to UC Berkeley for, I think, business. But I feel like she really always talked about the public libraries as being the big resource she used to kind of craft her financial theories and to really educate herself. 

And then, I think, [she] just got really passionate about that, and at some point decided she wanted to put some skin in the game and invest in it, and went for it.

Tell us about her decision to write under the name G. Weiss.

That was a big surprise to me.

She really felt like that's what she needed to do to be taken seriously, especially in getting started. She felt like a woman wouldn't be taken as seriously giving financial advice.

What do you make of that? And what did she tell you about her challenge being a woman in investment back in those days?

It's really sad to think about, you know, that that's what had to be. [It's] not completely shocking. I think even in these times, it's not easy for women to be leaders, especially in the finance world. I think there's a lot of representation lacking there.

You wish people could just be who they are and present themselves as they are and be taken seriously. But I think it was probably a smart move, considering the times especially.

Is it true [that people often] suggested she should be a secretary as opposed to running the shop?

That's what she would tell me. And, given gender stereotypes of that time, I think that that was probably very true.

She didn't talk too much about that except that she just really had the perseverance … to just kind of continue on with her vision no matter what she was being told. And, you know, that's really, like, the spirit of my grandma.

She had to endure a lot of opinions about herself and just decide what was right for her. 

How's your family doing, as you now have to remember her?

Obviously, it's very hard for people to take, but she did live a really long, vigorous life. She was 96.

She was just such a force, you know, and she was the big matriarch in our family. 

We are really lucky that because she built this business, this great business, that there have been a lot of media pieces written about her over the years. And I just feel grateful to kind of be able to go back and visit those and read about her legacy as well as, you know, looking at her own private family photos and things. It's special.

What advice of hers do you think about most in your own work life?

Find something that you really love to do, and then it doesn't feel so much like work. But it doesn't mean it's going to be easy.

A couple of years ago when I told her I was going to start working for myself, she was just so excited. And she's really just a big proponent of people being their own boss … and of finding what they love to do, and that really fuelling them.

I think also just to live your life as you want to live it — you know, really be rooted in aliveness.

She wasn't afraid to speak her mind and she wasn't afraid to live life the way that she thought it ought to be lived. And I think those two lessons are important.

Is there a certain memory you shared with her that you're thinking about today?

I was thinking about visiting her over the pandemic. And she was being very careful about distancing, and so I went over there to have kind of an outdoor lunch with her. She was 95 and then, you know, I showed up and she's in a big leopard kaftan…. Looking put together was important to her.

We just had this really beautiful afternoon. I was telling her a little bit about this coaching business that I run, and she was just reflecting on how great it is to be your own boss. And she's so happy I found something that I love. 

To be able to share that with my grandma and see her joy reflected was just really beautiful.

Written by Sheena Goodyear. Interview produced by Katie Geleff. Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.