News Organizations and Titles: 43 years at Barron's--columnist 1966-present; editor and columnist, 1981-93; managing editor, 1965-81; reporter, 1956-65; also, commentator, NBC-TV's "News at Sunrise," 1982-90; markets columnist, New York Journal-American, 1952-55; various posts, including copy boy, metro reporter and financial reporter, New York Journal-American, 1949-52.
Legacy: Mr. Abelson brings humor and a razor-like wit to his investment columns, proving that investment advice and enjoyable reading are not oxymorons. Having written his "Up & Down Wall Street" column for three decades, he influenced the market values of thousands of publicly held companies. He gave definition to the modern application of contrarian investment journalism.
Journalistic Progeny: Allan Sloan, Benjamin J. Stein, Joe Queenan and John Stossel.
Personal: Born Oct. 12, 1925.
Family: Mr. Abelson's wife, Virginia, died in January 1999. He has two children, son Justin and daughter Reed.
Awards: Elliott V. Bell Award, 1999; Loeb Lifetime Achievement Award, 1998.
Education: City College of New York, B.S. in chemistry and English, 1946; University of Iowa Writers Workshop, master's in creative writing, 1947.
What he has said about himself: "I like to deflate the inflated and inflate the deflated."
What he made news or headlines for: In 1989, a federal judge dismissed a $5 million securities fraud case against Mr. Abelson. He had been the subject of several suits alleging he acted in concert with investors who stood to profit from a sharp drop in the price of featured stocks. Mr. Abelson sued Business Week after an April 1975 article alleging an investor and a small group of other investors would know in advance what an Abelson column would say. A little more than a year after bringing the suit, Mr. Abelson dropped it in exchange for a public admission from McGraw-Hill that it had no reason to believe he acted unethically or intentionally leaked information to investors.
What others have said about him: Jonathan R. Laing, a Barron's Midwest editor: "You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know that maybe you're in deep shit" if you get a call from Mr. Abelson.