MELVILLE, New York — Ivan Boesky died last week at the age of 87. Boesky, son of Russian Jewish immigrants, obtained his law degree but then worked in finance at a number of companies including L.F. Rothschild. He then started his own brokerage firm, Ivan F. Boesky & Company. He eventually amassed a huge fortune, in particular by betting on corporate takeovers. He also was successful in many financial dealings as a result of huge sums in cash which he paid others for inside information which he used to guide his investing. In 1986 he pleaded guilty to one count of insider trading, for which he served two years in prison and was permanently barred from working in the securities industry. The character Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street was in part based on Boesky, in particular the “greed is good” speech which Gekko delivers, similar to Boesky’s 1986 commencement speech at the Haas School of Business of the University of California, Berkeley where he stated, “Greed is all right, by the way. I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.” What else is true about Ivan Boesky?