Who is Benjamin Graham from Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist and what is their importance?

Born in London as Benjamin Grossbaum, Ben Graham came to America (New York, specifically) as an infant. Despite the poverty imposed by his father's early death and his mother's loss of all of her savings in the stock market crash of 1907, he excelled in school and went to Columbia University. Taking a job on Wall Street, he took to the world of finance and investing extremely well. He became a frequent lecturer and authored several books on investing. Graham's investment partnership was almost wiped out during the Depression, but a partner put up money to allow the the company to survive. He continued to teach at Columbia, where Warren Buffet was enrolled.