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Peter Shapiro, founder of Swap Financial Group and a former New Jersey legislator and county executive, died at his home in East Orange on March 29 after a long illness. He was 71.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, Mr. Shapiro graduated from Harvard College in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and history. In college, he was managing editor of the Harvard Crimson.
In 1976, Mr. Shapiro, at 23, became the youngest person ever elected to the New Jersey General Assembly and served until 1979. A Democrat, he went on to win his race to become the first-ever Essex County Executive and served from 1979 to 1987. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1985 against Republican Thomas Kean. He left public service to work in the banking industry.
“Peter was an esteemed public servant who, at just 23 years old, made history by becoming the youngest New Jerseyan ever elected to the General Assembly,” said Gov. Phil Murphy.
“Over the course of his storied career, and especially as the first-ever county executive of his beloved Essex County, Peter dedicated every ounce of himself to ensuring our state’s political institutions served the needs of our families,” Murphy said. “His legacy of courage and compassion will inspire the people of New Jersey for generations to come.”
In 1997, Mr. Shapiro founded Swap Financial Group, a leading independent advisor on swaps and complex financial structures. He retired in 2019. The firm, now closed, specialized in market strategy and financial structure advice for large borrowers.
Previously, Mr. Shapiro worked at Citibank for six years, where he served as a senior banker and headed the municipal derivatives business and the public finance department. He also had worked for five years as senior vice president of Euro Brokers, a derivative specialist company.
“Peter was a class act in all ways,” said John Hallacy, founder of John Hallacy Consulting LLC.
“We rode NJTransit together for years. We had some of our best talks about unwinding swaps when the train broke down for an hour,” Hallacy told The Bond Buyer.
“I know that he had a long illness, but he never let it affect his positive, proactive outlook. It was also clear that New Jersey politicians thought highly of him, even the ones who competed with him for office. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. He was inimitable,” he added.
Mr. Shapiro was one the market’s real innovators, said Nat Singer, a senior director with PFM Financial and previously senior managing director at Swap Financial.
“From his early days at Citi he helped develop the market for variable rate tax-exempt debt which then led to the use of interest rate swaps and other hedging derivatives,” Singer told The Bond Buyer.
“Peter had the unique ability to step back from what, for others, were confusing markets and products, and not only provide coherent and understandable explanations to his clients but also craft strategies that would take advantage of the opportunities created by these seemingly chaotic markets and structures,” Singer said.
“It was not uncommon for these strategies to run counter to those being employed by the masses, as it was not uncommon, and in fact typical, that Peter’s recommendations produced superior results,” he said.
Singer noted how smart Mr. Shapiro was.
“Whether it was commenting on legal docs, designing hedges, pricing interest rate swaps, or analyzing economic data, Peter was always insightful and challenged those who performed any one of these tasks as their primary job,” he said. “He treated his role as an advisor as one with a fiduciary responsibility far before Dodd-Frank codified that as a requirement. As a result, his clients were as loyal to him as he was to them.”
Mr. Shapiro was quoted in a 2015 story in The Bond Buyer on the complexity and size of municipal bond deals.
“Since the financial crisis [of 2007-2009], firms like ours have been called upon to advise our clients not just on swaps, but on bonds,” said Shapiro, who was also a municipal advisor as well as a registered swap advisor.
These advisors have extra credibility on certain deals, such as those that feature taxable debt, Shapiro told The Bond Buyer at the time.
“There’s a need for some additional expertise,” Shapiro noted.
Mr. Shapiro is survived by his wife, Bryna Linett, whom he married in 1982, their son, Samuel, and two sisters, Nancy and Margaret Shapiro.
“Peter loved fine wine,” Singer said. “We should all lift a glass and toast his contribution and dedication to the industry and his guidance to his clients, colleagues and competitors.”