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Q&A With Bruce Berkowitz, Manager, Fairholme Fund: Bloomberg Video
Berkowitz grew up in Chelsea, Mass., a gritty suburb of Boston. His father Barney was a part-time taxi driver who ran a bookmaking operation out of his corner convenience store, and his mother, Hennie, was a homemaker. When Bruce was 15, his father had a heart attack. Berkowitz quit high school for two months to take over the bookmaking operation while his dad recovered.
Creating betting lines for horse races and baseball games gave him his first lessons in odds -- and how most people don't understand them. "I learned hope and dreams and the perverse psychology that makes people make stupid decisions," he says.
An indifferent student, Berkowitz managed to get into the University of Massachusetts Amherst despite mediocre high school grades, becoming the first in his family to attend college. Once on campus, he found his motivation -- not to end up a taxi driver like his dad, he says -- and discovered he had a talent for math. He also met Tracey, who was a year older and living in the same dorm. They got married the week he graduated.
Comments
From a 2010 Fortune article Bruce Berkowitz: The megamind of Miami:
http://www.miami.edu/index.php/news/releases/ceremonial_groundbreaking_held_for_new_student_activities_center/
If I recall correctly, both his girls are alumni of the University of Miami.
Mona