Wall Street's Stifel Strategist Battipaglia Dies at 55

Wall Street veteran Joseph Battipaglia, a widely quoted stock-market strategist who made his name during the dot-com boom, died on Friday, a spokeswoman for the firm said.

Battipaglia, who was the chief investment strategist for Stifel Nicolaus & Co. since 2007 in Yardley, Pa., was 55. He had worked at Stifel's predecessors, Ryan Beck & Co., and Gruntal & Co., since 1984.

The Stifel spokeswoman did not give a cause of death. Stifel Nicolaus is the broker/dealer subsidiary of Stifel Financial Corp. (SF.N).

The burly Wall Street veteran was a frequent presence on television, particularly during the bull market run in the 1990s when he maintained a largely upbeat stance on the market and in some ways an embodiment of the bullishness of the period.

In more recent years, he had been less positive on markets.

"Besides the obvious physical attributes of looking like a linebacker, the best way to say it was that he was a very generous guy," said Vinny Catalano, chief investment strategist at Blue Marble Research.

"He truly was a gentle giant. He was a lot of fun to interact with both professionally and personally, and it's truly a large loss."