15 Facts About Harvey Pitt

Harvey Pitt served as the 26th chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission for 18 months from August 2001 to February 2003, a period that encompassed the September 11 attacks and the Enron scandal.

Harvey Pitt then worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission, eventually becoming the agency's general counsel.

Harvey Pitt was born in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York, the son of a seamstress and of a butcher who worked his way up to become a vice president of the Waldbaum's supermarket chain.

Harvey Pitt than graduated from Brooklyn College with a bachelor's degree in 1965, and from St John's University School of Law with a Juris Doctor in 1968.

Harvey Pitt later received the Presidential Medal of Distinction from Brooklyn College in 2003, and an honorary LLD from St John's University School of Law.

From 1968 to 1978, Harvey Pitt served on the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission, eventually becoming the agency's youngest general counsel in 1975 at age 30.

Harvey Pitt was known for a blunt, mercurial, combative manner.

In November 2002, Harvey Pitt abruptly resigned under pressure as Chairman of the SEC, 15 months into what was to be a five-year term; he stepped down the following February.

Harvey Pitt was one of the founding members of the SEC Historical Society in 1999, a non-profit organization that preserves and shares the history of the SEC and financial regulation.

Later in his career, Harvey Pitt served as a columnist with Compliance Week, and as an expert witness.

Harvey Pitt raised concerns when he met privately with former clients of his while they were subjects of SEC investigations, and regularly remained in the room for SEC discussions of matters involving his former clients.

Harvey Pitt abruptly resigned from the SEC under pressure after the polls closed on election night, on November 5,2002, after what The New York Times called "a political firestorm over his selection of the head of a new board overseeing the accounting profession", which led to four investigations of his actions.

Harvey Pitt was just the second SEC Chairman to resign abruptly as a result of political turmoil.

Harvey Pitt accepted seedy clients not out of principle, but because he wanted to be a player, and because he wanted the money and publicity such assignments generated.

Harvey Pitt served later in his career as an expert witness.