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Native New Yorker and extraordinary investment manager Tracy Maitland
has long been considered one of the biggest names on Wall Street
throughout his more than twenty years as a leader in the financial
industry. Maitland is president and chief investment officer of
Advent Capital Management, a multi-billion dollar diversified investment
firm specializing in convertible, high yield, and equity strategies.
He started his illustrious career with Merrill Lynch where he spent
thirteen years advising institutions on investing in convertibles,
fixed income, and equities. Featured on Forbes list of 20 Wealthiest
Blacks in America in 2009, Maitland is literally and figuratively
giving the good ol’ boys on Wall Street a run for their money. Much
of his drive and inspiration come from none other than his father,
Dr. Leo C. Maitland, who showed Maitland what success looked like
from the time he was old enough to read the Wall Street Journal.
Dr. Maitland was a prominent New York surgeon known to many as the
“doctor to the stars.” Considered outspoken and thoughtful, Dr.
Maitland defined in his own distinct way what it meant to be an
excellent physician and an extraordinary man.
In 1958 Dr. Maitland, then a surgical resident, was on the medical
team at Harlem Hospital that operated on Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. after he was stabbed in the chest at a Harlem book signing.
He and Dr. King later became friends and after Dr. Maitland died
in 1992, Maitland found books belonging to his father that were
authored by Dr. King. In them, he discovered that Dr. King had written
personal notes to his father. While Dr. Maitland treasured his friendships
with national figures and prominent local leaders and politicians,
his work extended far beyond caring for individuals with larger
than life resumes and images. He derived a great deal of satisfaction
from treating his day-to-day patients, including patients who could
not afford to pay.
Maitland recalls that his father was always interested in medicine.
Most members of the Maitland family also trained and worked in the
medical field, which according to Maitland makes him the black sheep
of the family. His uncle was also a surgeon, his maternal grandmother
was a nurse, and his sister is a practicing physician. As a child,
Maitland, who never liked blood or diseases, accompanied his dad
on his hospital rounds to see patients when he was young. For the
life of him, he couldn’t figure out what was so interesting or intriguing
about medicine and found that going on rounds with his dad was particularly
helpful because it helped him figure out what he did not want to
be when he grew up. This early exposure to hospitals and sick people
made his decision to go into a profession that had nothing to do
with medicine quite simple. However, seeing his father as a successful
physician and business owner left an indelible mark on a young man
who aspired to build wealth and one day become financially independent
just like his dad.
As a practicing physician and surgeon, Dr. Maitland spent long hours
building his practice and treating patients. As a result, he didn’t
have a lot of free time and did not spend an inordinate amount of
time with his children. As Maitland got older, father and son spent
a lot more quality time together, often with friends. Dr. Maitland
loved to host dinner parties at his house, always finding a reason
to entertain. “If it was time for the Kentucky Derby, there would
be a Kentucky Derby dinner party at his house,” Tracy recalls. “He
came up with whatever excuse he could find to have a social event.
That’s how much he loved to entertain and spend time with friends.”
He and his dad also spent a lot of time hanging out in Manhattan
together. Dr. Maitland was extremely New York City-centric and helped
Maitland appreciate that New York is where you really want to be
for a variety of reasons. Maitland had to drag his dad out of New
York to get him to see other places. In the mid 80s, Maitland announced
to his family that he was moving to Detroit for work. His father’s
response: “What? Where is that?” Dr. Maitland pointed out to his
son that millions of people leave small towns around the world to
come to New York and asked him why he would ever want to leave New
York and go to some “little town.” To this day, Maitland can’t recall
if his father ever came to visit him in the three years he lived
in the Midwest.
Maitland misses his father and friend, but recognizes that his dad
lived an extraordinary life. He recalls that when his father died,
literally thousands of people attended his funeral at the oldest
African American Episcopal Church in Harlem, St. Philip's Church,
where Dr. Maitland served as an acolyte decades prior. He impacted
the lives of so many—from politicians to people in the arts to every
day citizens of New York. At his funeral, countless people came
up to Maitland and his siblings to share how their father “saved
my life” and to express how much he meant to the community. Maitland
never heard anyone say a bad thing about his dad. His father dedicated
his life to helping people and he never turned anyone away. Leo
C. Maitland served as a fine example of manhood, and Maitland is
especially proud of the many lessons his dad taught him that helped
him become the man he is today.
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