Bernie Madoff, Frat Brother - Profiling Bernie the Con Man

Bernie Madoff, Frat Brother

By ALLEN SALKIN
Published: January 16, 2009

A LONG time ago, they knew him for a very short time.

NEWS MAKER Bernard L. Madoff headed to Alabama for college and joined Sigma Alpha Mu.
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Times Topics: Bernard L. Madoff | Ponzi Schemes

A half-century ago, Bernard L. Madoff, accused of masterminding one of the world’s largest Ponzi schemes, attended the University of Alabama as a freshman, and then, after a year, transferred.

Like a lot of Jewish young men from New York who headed to the South for an inexpensive education in the 1950s, he joined a Jewish fraternity, in his case Sigma Alpha Mu, known as the Sammy house.

My father, Jay Salkin, was in the house, too. “The main thing I remember is that we had a big dance, and he invited a girl all the way from New York,” he recalled. “She was a looker. All the way from New York she came.”

There are probably better ways to learn about Mr. Madoff than to ask his former fraternity brothers. But you could do worse.

Here is a short oral history of Bernie Madoff, fraternity boy. (Some quotes are condensed.)

Martin Schrager, plastics recycling industry consultant, Boca Raton, Fla.: He was my roommate. There was nothing nefarious about the guy. When I heard years later that he was who he was, I was astonished. He never seemed like the kind of guy who could move millions on Wall Street.

I did hear about him some years later in Florida. My accountant was his accountant. I invested a small amount with him. But those were the years we had a president named James Earl Carter. Interest rates were like 18 percent. So I figured that if you put your money in the bank they gave you 18 percent and a toaster. So I took my money and got 18 percent and a toaster, too. Then he went on to infamy.

Tell your dad I remember the good old days. Someone in the house decided that when we all went into the business world, Jay was going to manufacture cream cheese. The slogan was “Whaddaya mean this ain’t good cream cheese?”

Martin Brill, retail apparel consultant, Jersey City: “There isn’t much about Bernie that stands out in my mind. He was a low-key sort of guy who stayed out of trouble but also lacked any outstanding personality trait.”

Malcolm Lindy, retired owner of Popeyes chicken franchises in northern Alabama and author of the comedic novel “The Temple President”: He wasn’t an outstanding athlete or outstanding with girls. I just don’t remember anything outstanding about him. Nice enough, not a particularly good student as I recall.

How is Jay doing?

Nancy Daar, widow of Arthur Daar, a former Boeing engineer, Bellevue, Wash.: Arthur never, ever mentioned Bernard Madoff. But he did not talk about the past very much. He was such an adventurer he wanted to live for today.

Leonard E. Indianer, retired optometrist and author of “A Bridge to Elne: Novel of a French Family’s Struggle Against the Nazi Occupation,” Ormond Beach, Fla: I don’t recall him at all.

Jay Salkin, manufacturer of baby accessories, Los Angeles:

He was a pledge. Maybe I had him shine my shoes or get me a soda or something like that. On Saturday the pledges’ job was to wash, wax and buff the floor. If you were in the Army R.O.T.C. you could send them to clean your rifle.

I used to use a lot of cream cheese.