Person in history

Ivan Boesky

Ivan Boesky, American stock trader (born 1937)

Life at a glance

Died
2024 · May 20
Known as
stock trader. Citizenship: United States

Their story

Who they were

Personal life In 1962, Boesky married Seema Silberstein, the younger daughter of Detroit real estate magnate Ben L. Silberstein whose holdings included The Beverly Hills Hotel in California. After her father's death, they won a court battle against her sister and brother-in-law over the hotel's ownership. [ 1 ] In 1991, she divorced Boesky and agreed to pay him $23 million and $180,000 a year for life. They had four children. [ 2 ] Ivan Boesky and his second wife, Ana, had another child.

Ivan Frederick Boesky was a convicted criminal and an American stock trader who was infamous for his prominent role in an insider trading scandal in the mid-1980s. After getting caught he became a government informant and then pleaded guilty, and was fined a record $100 million, and served twenty months in prison.

Early life

Educated at: Cranbrook School, Mumford High School, and Cranbrook Educational Community.

Early life and education Boesky was born to a Jewish family [ 1 ] [ 2 ] in Detroit . His family owned several delicatessens and taverns in the city. [ 2 ] He attended the Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills before graduating from Detroit's Mumford High School . He then attended courses at Wayne State University in Detroit, Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti , and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor . Although he lacked an undergraduate degree,

Path and career

Career In 1966, Boesky and his wife moved to New York where he worked for several stock brokerage companies including L.F. Rothschild and Edwards & Hanly . In 1975, he initiated his own stock brokerage company, Ivan F. Boesky & Company, with $700,000 (equivalent to $4.2 million in 2025) worth of start-up money from his wife's family [ 1 ] with a business plan that speculated on corporate takeovers. The company grew from profits as well as buy-in investments from new partnerships. By 1986,

Why this date

Ivan Boesky appears on our May 20 calendar for 2024 as a death entry.

Sources

Cite this page

“Ivan Boesky”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/people/ivan-boesky, accessed October 28, 2026.

Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.

Questions about Ivan Boesky

When did Ivan Boesky die?

May 20 2024.

Who else was born on this day?

The date page lists everyone we hold for that calendar day.

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