The Patron Saint Of Wharton Opens Up To Vanity Fair

Penn has a fairly impressive fleet of accomplished alums: Elizabeth Banks, Louis Kahn, and TORY BURCH are just a few of the boldface names that have graced our fine campus. But how many of them have been featured in the July 2010 issue of Vanity Fair? NONE! For the aspiring billionaire super mogul in all of us, this month's issue has a rare interview with secretive hedge fund king and Penn alum Steven Cohen, complete with a photo editorial by the sought after (albeit financially illiterate) Annie Leibovitz.

As Cohen tells it, his time at Penn wasn't particularly overwhelmed by academics so much as it was by the poker table and downtown stock tickers. He namedrops some quintessential Penn student hotspots (like the Center City Merrill Lynch office and ZBT) before launching into a detailed history of his rise to the top of Wall Street and a riveting account of his inflamed slipped disc. The guy is pretty much the Indiana Jones of Greenwich, CT.

Even though the article is essentially an attempt to restore honor to the venerable and time honored practice of derivatives trading, it might be worth a second look if you need some pointers on the path to world domination (or a ludicrously extensive contemporary art collection).

A teaser is available on the Vanity Fair website.