E AR L Y YEARS VISION AND FOUNDATION GETTY IMAGES THE COMPANY THAT IS NOW OPPENHEIMERFUNDS OPENED FOR BUSINESS WITH THE IDEA THAT THE FIRM WOULD DEVELOP A REPUTATION BASED ON INVESTMENT EXPERTISE, RIGOROUS RESEARCH, INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS, AND AN UNWAVERING FOCUS ON THE CUSTOMER. << Late 1940s: Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in the years immediately following World War II were dealing with a bear market and lingering Depression-era skittishness on the part of individual investors. These trends continued into the 1950s, when Max Oppenheimer launched his Firm, Oppenheimer & Co. EARLY YEARS Vision and Foundation * 9