Within Lehman, Fuld earned a reputation as a single-minded trader who took guff from no one. One day he approached the desk of the floor’s supervisor, Allan S. Kaplan (who would later become Lehman’s vice chairman), to have him sign a trade, which was then a responsibility of supervisors. A round-faced man, cigar always in hand, Kaplan was on the phone when Fuld appeared and deliberately ignored him. Fuld hovered, furrowing his remarkable brow and waving his trade in the air, signaling loudly that he was ready for Kaplan to do his bidding. Kaplan, cupping the receiver with his hand, turned to the young trader, exasperated. “You always think you’re the most important,” he exploded. “That nothing else matters but your trades. I’m not going to sign you fucking trades until every paper is off my desk!” “You promise?” Fuld said, tauntingly. “Yes,” Kaplan said. “Then I’ll get to it.” Leaning over, Fuld swept his arm across Kaplan’s desk with a violent twist, sending dozens of papers flying across the office. Before some of them even landed, Fuld said, firmly but not loudly: “Will you sign it now?” By this time, Fuld was known within the firm – and increasingly outside of it – as “The Gorilla,” a nickname he didn’t discourage.
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