Early Life and Education
Whitman was born to a Jewish family in the Bronx, New York. He served in the military in the Pacific during World War II. Returning to New York state, he graduated from Syracuse University with a B.S. in business administration in 1949. He also has a M.A. in economics from the New School of Social Research. He then worked for various investment firms in New York City before setting up his own company in 1974, M.J. Whitman & Co. His first big successful investment was his purchase of $100,000 in mortgage bonds issued by the bankrupt Penn Central Railroad. He later sold the bonds for five times his original investment.
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