Gardner Rich & Co

Gardner established the brokerage firm, Gardner Rich & Co, in Chicago, Illinois, an "institutional brokerage firm specializing in the execution of debt, equity, and derivative products transactions for some of the nation's largest institutions, public pension plans, and unions." His new company was started in his small Presidential Towers apartment, with a start-up capital of $10,000 and a single piece of furniture: a wooden desk that doubled as the family dinner table. The "Rich" in the name was in honor of commodities trader Marc Rich, who had no connection to the company and whom Gardner had never met, but whom Gardner considered "one of the most successful futures traders in the world".