Legg Mason - History

Important Milestones

1899: Forerunner to Legg & Co., George Mackubin & Co. is founded in Baltimore.
1962: Raymond A. Mason, a Virginia broker-dealer, incorporates Mason & Company, Inc. in Newport News.
1970: Mason & Company and Legg & Company merge to form Legg Mason & Company.
1973: Legg Mason acquires Wood & Walker Co., a New York broker-dealer, forming Legg Mason Wood Walker, Inc.
1979: Company introduces the Legg Mason Cash Reserve Trust, its first mutual, money-market fund.
1981: Legg Mason, Inc. is incorporated in Maryland as a holding company for its subsidiaries, including Legg Mason Wood Walker, Inc.
1982: Legg Mason Fund Adviser, Inc. is created to manage Legg Mason Funds and the Legg Mason Value Trust is introduced as the company's first equity mutual fund.
1983: Legg Mason, Inc. goes public and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
1990: Legg Mason enters the commercial mortgage banking field by buying Latimer & Buck, Inc.
1995: The company establishes an overseas office in London.
1996: Legg Mason acquires Bartlett & Co. and Lehman Brothers Global Asset Management Limited.
1998: Company moves headquarters to Light Street in downtown Baltimore.


Legg Mason traces its beginnings back to 1899, when George Mackubin founded an eponymous brokerage firm in Baltimore. Mackubin soon hired 19-year-old John Legg Jr. for a low-level position. Legg became a partner by 1904 and gained sole control of the firm 45 years later. In 1970 Legg & Co. (the firm was renamed when Legg and Mackubin split and again after Legg's death in 1963) merged with Mason & Co., a brokerage founded by Raymond "Chip" Mason.


Chip Mason and some associates had formed Mason & Company in 1962, in Newport News. Mason wsa was only 25 at that time. He had entered the world of securities in 1959 in his hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia, where his great uncle and uncle ran Mason & Lee, a small brokerage firm. Mason was able to open his own company wtih $200,000 borrowed money. Among his friends was James Brinkley, who later ran Legg Mason's retail brokerage operation.

Mason guided his young business through a successful beginning and healthy early growth. By 1970, Mason & Co., with 60 brokers, was operating six offices, including four branch offices in Virginia and Washington, D.C. It also had drawn the attention of Legg & Co., which was looking to expand into the South, and the two firms negotiated a merger to establish Legg Mason Co.


2008

January 28 2008:


Financial-services provider Legg Mason on Monday said co-founder Raymond A. Mason stepped down as chief executive and president, handing over the positions to Mark R. Fetting.

Raymond A. "Chip" Mason will continue as nonexecutive chairman.

Fetting, 53, joined Baltimore-based Legg Mason in 2000. He was previously senior executive vice president, with responsibility for the company's worldwide mutual fund and managed account businesses.






Sources
http://jobs.nytimes.com/texis/company?compid=43133b7b57ce40

http://www.mutual-funds.biz/2008/01/28/news/companies/legg_mason_ceo/index.htm