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| Vol. 24 No. 15 | Tuesday March 25, 2025 |
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Julius Maldutis, who many people rightfully believe was the grandaddy of all transportation analysts and unquestionably the greatest of all time for his industry-leading 26 years covering the airlines for Salomon Brothers Smith Barney, and then beginning in 1998 as Research Group Managing Director of CIBIC Oppenheimer, died at 2:37 pm Saturday March 15. Born June 26, 1938, Mr. Maldutis who was 86 years old lived quietly for years at home in Bayside, a neighborhood in Queens, New York City. But his expertise and total grasp of what the airlines thought and did and in many cases, should be doing, made him the go-to source on any financial situation or upheaval and a highly valued voice of reason. He often spoke out and stood for clear thinking in the financial transportation media blizzard. Mr. Maldutis could be found on The PBS News Hour, The Street, Journal Of Commerce and elsewhere, including addressing The Wings Club in New York, where the airline leaders have met and discussed business since 1941. Of Julius, Holly Hegeman of “The Street” wrote when he departed Smith Barney: “Maldutis was one of those Wall Street institutions who lent instant, incalculable credibility to the company's underwriting efforts. “And he could still move stock like no one else in the industry with his recommendations.” After writing this sad story we received many comments from the financial industry, which are included below. GDA |
When we lost the great Julius Maldutis on March 15, 2025 or on the Ides of March, gone was the last of the great airline Wall Street analysts. Julius made the airlines a main feature in the Wall Street stock market. Today we have many problems within the airline industry such as potential strikes, labor costs, new procedures, FAA regulations, delays in aircraft orders, effect of Trump’s tariffs etc., but we never see their effect on the airline industry featured on the TV news media anymore. When Julius was on Wall Street, the news stations would interview him on various airline topics and I would see Julius on TV news explaining the situation. Julius kept the airlines at the forefront of the news through his many reports and his yearly conference where many of the great airline CEOs would give presentations. Julius was on first-name basis with the great airline leaders such as Bob Crandall, Steve Wolf, Herb Kelleher, Ken Carlson and many of the others. When UPS became a public company and started an airline they were at Julius’ conference. Julius Maldutis was so highly respected by the airline industry that they elected him president of the prestigious Wings Club. But, only a few people knew of the personal side of Julius Maldutis. That side of Julius shows how this strong man, who came from nothing became one of the airline industry greats, Julius was born in Lithuania on June 25, 1938, prior to World War II. His father was an agricultural commissioner and knew war was coming. He had his wife dry brown bread and preserve food for two years and keep it in storage. When World War II broke out his father traded his house and farmland for money and a truck, took his family and started moving towards Germany. On the way, they traded the truck for a railroad freight car and kept on hitching rides to Germany. One of Julius’ earliest remembrances was when he was sitting on the railroad freight car, eating a piece of the dried bread when German soldiers marched by in complete disarray, obviously retreating from the Russian campaign. One of the soldiers, seeing Julius eating the bread came over and offered to trade his shoes for some of the bread. When they finally reached Germany, they were enslaved and given to a farmer to work his farm. The farmer treated them kindly, and when the war ended, his father wanted to come to the United States and knew that automobiles were a main business in the United States, so he went to work for the military motor pool and learned mechanics. When the family emigrated to the United States, Julius’ father worked as an auto mechanic and saved enough money to open his own shop, where Julius worked after school and during his summer vacations. Julius attended Columbia University, specialized in statistical analysis and obtained his PhD.
He, then became a professor at Columbia and was proud that 100% of the students in his class passed their PhD examination on the first try. After the academic life, he went to work for Solomon Brothers Smith Barney in the transportation area and specialized in the airline industry; Julius Maldutis became the premier “granddad” of airline analysts, respected by all. I can tell you many stories about his experiences on Wall Street but that will take many pages. Julius retired from Wall Street in 1999, but remained as a consultant. He was in the building next to the twin towers on September 11, 2001 (9/11) and saw the American Airlines-hijacked aircraft flown by kamikaze terrorists crash into the Twin Towers and destroy it. Julius was an eye witness to the devastating vision of human beings jumping out of windows to their death, people, who just moments prior to the attack, had reported to work on a beautiful early autumn day. Those moments pressed to his office window affected Julius deeply. He never went back after that. \ 
Julius was more than a friend of mine. As we were both single children,
we thought of each other as the brother we never had. My two children, Robin and Heather called him uncle. We spent time with his two children Marius and Alex, who he was very proud of. I had the honor of being best man at his wedding to Sandra. We spent countless days fishing, hunting, or just hanging out at his retreat in Colesville, NY. We had many advantages, some of which I will talk about at his “Celebration of Life” in NYC. Julius was a tremendous help to me. When I thought up ideas, Julius would do the statistical analysis and determine the best one to try. Even when I was in Iraq running the successful Iran Transportation Network, which is credited with saving about 3,000 of our soldiers, I ran different operational ideas past Julius. He would do the statistical analysis and advised me as to which one had the best chance of success. Much of the success of that program goes to Julius. I will deeply miss my brother and part of my soul has been ripped apart with his passing, but I have solace in thinking he will always live in my heart. Bill Boesch Editor's Note: With over 50 years of experience in the transportation and logistics industries, Bill Boesch is an unparalleled subject matter expert on the intersection of logistics operations, commercial aviation and United States Defense policy. Mr. Boesch founded and continues to lead the Council for Logistics Research, Inc. as CEO and Chairman. |
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