Before the Billions: When Buffett Schooled Scarsdale

We may be used to hearing about the moguls who have walked the streets of Scarsdale, but one name that feels unexpected is “Warren Buffett.” I heard his name come up in village lore about past teachers at the Scarsdale Adult School (SAS). Yes, he walked the halls of Scarsdale High School and stood at the chalkboards! But what brought him here, and what did he teach? I wanted to shed some light on this fun fact, and it’s perfect timing to coincide with the SAS being awarded the Spotlight Award at the upcoming Scarsdale Bowl Dinner on April 24, 2025.

Buffett teaching a course at Omaha University, just before he taught at the Scarsdale Adult School in the 1950s. Source: Susan Buffett for Forbes. 

Learning from the Best: Benjamin Graham

The story of Warren Buffett’s connection to Scarsdale begins with his mentor, Benjamin Graham, a Wall Street icon and “the father of value investing.” Graham may not be a household name, but he is like Wall Street’s Albert Einstein. He was born in 1894 and famously wrote the book “The Intelligent Investor” in 1949. Right around that time, Graham and his wife, Estelle, moved to 7 Harcourt Road. I found many details about his Scarsdale life in his biography: Benjamin Graham on Value Investing by Janet Lowe.

Photo of the Graham house at 7 Harcourt Road, Scarsdale, and photo of Graham from 1956. Source: Benjamin Graham on Value Investing

In the biography, Graham’s neighbor George H. Heyman Jr. (also a prominent financier) shared a funny anecdote about commuting with Graham to the City on the train. He described how Graham brought stacks of brokers’ reports on the train to read and tossed them on the floor one at a time. By the time they reached Scarsdale, Heyman said “it looked like it had snowed around our seats.” That’s a detail that today’s children of the digital age will never experience.

There was one other Scarsdale-related tidbit that I found very amusing. “In 1951, he built an addition on the house that jokingly was called Ben’s ‘$10,000 ‘Ping Pong room.’” I couldn’t help but stop by Village Hall to find evidence of this financier’s “playground.” Sure enough, I found his building department application for the addition. 

Benjamin Graham’s building permit application for creating a “ping pong room.” The note saying “Convert existing terrace to game room” is crossed out for some reason. Source: Village of Scarsdale

The same year he built his home addition, Graham was a lecturer at the Scarsdale Adult School. The classes are mentioned in his biography, stating: “as if he did not have enough to do, Ben taught an evening class at the Scarsdale Adult School.” He continued to teach other finance classes there through 1954. The Grahams were active in other community work, too. For example, Estelle was a second grade class parent at Fox Meadow School. Graham was also a guest lecturer for the League of Women Voters of Scarsdale and the Scarsdale Woman’s Club.

A Young Warren Buffett

Graham’s acclaimed book had mesmerized the young Warren Buffett, and he applied to Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business largely because Graham was teaching a course there. As a student, Buffett established a close relationship with Graham and was hired to work at his prestigious firm, Graham-Newman, in 1954.

At 24, Buffett’s $12,000 annual salary allowed him to rent a garden apartment in White Plains. It’s very possible he was introduced to the area through Graham, who lived nearby. “I moved to White Plains, New York, with my wife, Susie, who was four months pregnant, and my daughter. Every morning, I got on a train to Grand Central and went to work,” Buffett stated in an article for Forbes. His stint living in White Plains was short-lived because Buffett missed Omaha, and planned to return upon Graham’s soon-anticipated retirement.

It’s so fortunate that during his brief 21-month stint in Westchester County, Buffett taught classes for SAS at Scarsdale High School. With only months of work experience, he may not have scored the position if it weren’t for the introduction by Graham. Lowe’s biography of Graham confirms the connection stating, he “helped Buffett land an evening job teaching investments at the Scarsdale Adult School.” Buffett had taken a Dale Carnegie class for self-confidence, and also wanted to keep his speaking skills sharp. 

After much digging, I found a voice recording on YouTube where Buffett mentions the classes in Scarsdale, stating, “I taught a course at the Scarsdale Adult School while I was back in New York right before I then returned to Omaha in 1956…I benefited enormously from a few teachers when I was both in undergraduate school and graduate school, so I think that part of life is passing along what you’ve learned to the next generation.”

He even elaborates on the content of his classes and mentions Graham as an inspiration, saying, “I didn’t really use notes very much, I would just sort of ‘wing it’ generally. I never did an elaborate presentation, but I tried to use real-life examples in class because the professor that I learned the most from, Ben Graham, always used current examples, and it made it very interesting.”

The funny thing is, even though SAS announced all of their classes in the Scarsdale Inquirer, I haven’t found Buffett’s name mentioned in our village newspaper. Unlike his mentor Graham, whose lectures were lauded in the local media, Buffett was still a no-name “kid” in the first year of his career. I wonder if any Scarsdalians took this course and later realized it was with THE Warren Buffett? 

I finally found one reference to Buffett’s teaching position in the White Plains newspaper, with his name misspelled. It confirmed he taught the investment “fundamentals” class, but “specialists in the field” taught the advanced course. Source: The Reporter Dispatch, September 9, 1955

Buffett once shared this piece of advice: “Investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. Anything that improves your own talents.” This is a great reminder to invest in ourselves and take a class at SAS - our teacher just may be the next Warren Buffett.

Warren Buffett holding a portrait of Benjamin Graham, taken by Graham’s granddaughter and shared on her blog.. Source: beyondbengraham.com

Congratulations to the Scarsdale Adult School on receiving the Spotlight Award at the Scarsdale Bowl Dinner on April 24, 2025! Tickets are on sale now here.