Donald Regan (born 1918) directed America's leading brokerage house (Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner, and Smith) to new heights of success in the 1970s, before serving consecutively as secretary of the treasury and White House chief of staff under President Ronald Reagan.

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on December 21, 1918, Donald Thomas Regan attended Cambridge Latin School and Harvard University, graduating from the latter with a B.A. in English in 1940. While a student he ran a local guide service which netted him, in addition to his college expenses, savings of $2,000 by the time he graduated. Abandoning law school after less than a year, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and during World War II he served in five major campaigns, including Guadalcanal and Okinawa. After rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel, Regan left the corps in 1946; he subsequently credited his experience in the Marines for teaching him a sense of...