Remembering Louis Rukeyser

Jonathan Hoenig writes Thursday on SmartMoney.com about former “Wall $treet Week” anchor Louis Rukeyser and his influence on investors.

Hoenig writes, “The show was described as a ‘Mister Rukeyser’s Neighborhood for grown-ups.’ Rukeyser excelled at putting complex economic analysis into an accessible, meaningful, and most importantly, actionable format. ‘The average American is intensely interested in money, if you can explain it to him clearly and without putting him to sleep,’ he recalled in a subsequent interview. This was a visionary attitude in 1970, five years before stock brokerage commissions were deregulated and Wall Street was still considered a private club.

“His weekly commentary, written each Friday after the market close, would come to epitomize the folksy and familiar presentation that reassured investors even as it educated them. Always ready to acknowledge economic realities, he never lost his enduring optimism about American capitalism and equities over the long term.

“Comforting the nation after the 1987 crash, he quipped how ‘Everybody who really loved you a week ago still loves you tonight, and that’s a heck of a lot more important than the numbers on a brokerage statement.’ The market recovered within two years.

“The show was unlike anything in modern financial media. Panelists discussed their outlook and stock picks without interruption; no countdown clocks, sound effects or Paris Hilton footage competing for viewers’ attention.”

Read more here.