Leopold "Lee" Korins

Leopold “Lee” Korins was born July 8, 1933 in Boston, the only child of Hilda (Feltquate) Korins and Charles Korins, the sole proprietor of a furniture store in Boston. He received a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of Finance of the University of Pennsylvania. He served two years in the U.S. Army with the 101st Airborne and was assigned as a Sargeant to the Military Training Center in San Antonio, Texas. Lee was with Merrill Lynch for 32 years beginning as an Account Executive in the Boston office. He became the youngest partner of Merrill Lynch and Co. and served as a Member of the New York Stock Exchange representing Merrill Lynch as well as Director of Equity Trading, Regional Manager of NY Institutional Sales and for his last five years as Senior Manager and Managing Director of Broadcort Capital, a Subsidiary of Merrill Lynch and Co. He was responsible for Specialist Operations on all the nation’s exchange floors and both equity and options clearing through other subsidiaries of Broadcort Capital. He established risk parameters for firms clearing through Merrill and in the market crash of October 1987, not one of these firms had to close their doors. From 1989 to 1996 Lee was Chairman and CEO of the Pacific Stock and Options Exchange in San Francisco and Los Angeles. He had an active public career serving on the boards, among others, of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, the Northern California Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society and the CORO Foundation, an organization dedicated to training college graduates for public service. He was Chairman of the Wharton School Club of Northern California and a founding member of the Committee on JOBS, an organization of 24 CEO’s of major businesses working to develop greater cooperation between the business community and local government. In 1997, Lee became a Commissioner of the City of San Francisco and “financial tsar” working for Mayor Willie Brown. Lee was President and CEO of the Philadelphia Exchange 1997 to 1998. He was President and CEO of both the Security Traders Association and the STA Foundation from 1998 to 2002, when his offices in the World Trade Center were destroyed on 9/11. Lee was the Monfort Executive Professor of Finance at the University of Northern Colorado, 1996, 1998 and then full time 2002 to 2008. He was a member of the Greeley Club, a group of influential business people in Greeley who met weekdays for lunch in the back room of Kenny’s Restaurant. Lee was on the Board of Optibrand Corp., a Fort Collins company in the bio-medical field. He is survived by his wife, Karen (Cini) Korins, his partner and best friend for 48 years. Memorial Mass will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, March 20, 2026 at St. Mary Catholic Church, 2222 23rd Avenue, Greeley, CO 80634. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to St. Jude Hospital in Memphis, TN.

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Leopold "Lee" Korins

July 8, 1933 - February 26, 2026