Richard kiphart biography

Richard Kiphart, a prominent investment banker whose cold call to Warren Buffett led to the investor’s acquisition of Dairy Queen, died on Sept. 10 at his home in Chicago. He was 75.

His death was confirmed by the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he was a longtime board member.

Kiphart worked for 50 years at the investment banking firm William Blair & Co., where he was known as much for his facility with numbers in assessing a business as he was for his ability to call prospective clients and close sales.

“He could make the calls better than others as to who to believe could be a good CEO, who was going to run their business well, who was honest, who had integrity, who had a moral compass — and mixed that with who had a good business plan,” said Brent Gledhill, the global head of investment banking for William Blair.

Kiphart worked in just about every department at the firm over his career, heading divisions including institutional sales and trading, inv