Stifel Strategist Battipaglia Dies at 55

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Joseph Battipaglia, a widely quoted stock market strategist at Stifel Nicolaus, died of a heart attack on Thursday at age 55, according to reports.

The Wall Street veteran made his name during the dot-com boom in the late 1990's and early 2000's. He was frequently featured in media interviews and became renowned for his optimism about the market.

Joseph Battipaglia

He was known for maintaining an upbeat stance on the market, even as the tech bubble was bursting,

In a 2001 interview with Barron's, Battopaglia forecast the market was on the upswing.

"Over the last 12 months, we had to face a 70% correction in the Nasdaq Composite index from its top," Battipaglia was quoted as saying. "We had to face the collapse of the Internet bubble. And we had a 36-day [presidential] election process, one of the messiest in history. And we survived that with the economy still growing at 1% in the first quarter. That's a performance that, I think, will be replicated and slightly better in the second quarter, and I think we can ramp up from here meaningfully."

Doug Kass, the president of Seabreeze Partners and a contributor to TheStreet's RealMoney Silver subscription site, offered his sincere condolences to Battipaglia's family and friends.

"I knew Joe well and, throughout the last decade, often debated him on The Kudlow Report and Squawk Box, among other media venues," Kass said. "He will be badly missed."

Battipaglia had been the chief investment strategist at Stifel since 2007, and had worked at Stifel's predecessors, Ryan Beck & Co, and Gruntal & Co, since 1984.

Before 1984, Battipaglia was a financial analyst for the Exxon(XOM) and worked as a securities analyst at Elkins & Co.

Battipaglia was also the CIO of Washington Crossing Advisors, which is a Stifel Nicolaus investment advisory program, and a former trustee of the Securities Industry Institute, a leadership and management program run by the Security Industry Association.

--Written by Theresa McCabe in Boston.

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