Randall D.

Smith
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Randall "Randy" Smith
Randall Duncan Smith
Born
1942 (age 77–78)
Nationality American
Cornell University
Education Wharton School of the University of
Pennsylvania
Occupation Hedge fund manager
Kathryn Smith
Spouse(s)
Barbara Stovall Smith
Relatives Russ Smith (brother)

Randall Duncan "Randy" Smith (born 1942) is an American hedge fund manager, and the
founder and chief of investments of Alden Global Capital.

Contents
 1 Early life
 2 Career
 3 Controversies
 4 Personal life
 5 References

Early life
Randall Smith was born in 1942.[1] He earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University in
1965, followed by an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in
1967.[2][1]

His younger brother Russ Smith founded the Baltimore City Paper and the Washington City
Paper, which he sold for $4 million, and in 1989 founded the New York Press.[1]

Career
Bryan Tower, Dallas

Smith was a partner at Bear Stearns from 1975 to 1995, where he founded the convertible
arbitrage department and later focused on investing in distressed assets.[2][3]

He started his first investment firm at home while still working for Bear Stearns, with
$20,000 he and his wife won in the late 1960s on Dream House, a television game show.[1]

In 1998, he acquired the Bryan Tower, a 40-story downtown office building in Dallas, Texas,
and his son Caleb Smith oversaw the renovation for his father's company Spire Realty, which
he now runs.[4]

In 2002, together with his second wife Barbara (a Houston native), and his brother Jeffrey
Smith, they bought the historic 100-room 1924 Sam Houston Hotel, extensively remodelled
it, and reopened it in 2005 as the Alden Hotel.[1]

In 2007, Smith founded Alden Global Capital, and is its chief of investments.[2]

Controversies
Smith's Alden Global Capital has been known to buy local businesses, newspapers and
bleeding them dry leading to loss of jobs for the people before finally bankrupting it. [5]

Personal life
He met his first wife Kathryn Smith, when both were Cornell students, and she earned a PhD
in political science.[1] They have a son, Caleb Smith, who was profiled in 2011 in the Dallas-
based D Magazine, and a daughter.[1][4] Kathryn Smith died of ovarian cancer.[4]

He is married to Barbara Stovall Smith, and they own sixteen mansions in the Palm Beach,
Florida, area through limited liability companies.[6] Smith is known for his use of offshore
companies.[1]