Which is not to say that we’d expect Goldman to assign the role of chief financial officer to an executive lacking in lovable qualities, only that Harvey Schwartz is going to have a hard enough time living up to the standard set by the firm’s current CFO David Viniar, to say noting of all the nice things people are saying and writing about him.

The outpouring began last month, when Goldman announced that Mr. Schwartz would succeed Mr. Viniar at the beginning of next year. Former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt told The Journal that the Federal Reserve would love Mr. Schwartz’s “no-nonsense demeanor and sense of humor.“ The Times called him “affable and brawny.”  Read More