Businessman Jonathan Auerbach dies at 70

Jonathan Auerbach, who explored new frontiers for investors as co-founder of Auerbach Grayson & Co., a brokerage that specializes in international trading, has died. He was 70.

He died Saturday at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan, his co-managing director, David Grayson, said yesterday. The cause was lung cancer, which had been diagnosed in September.

Founded in 1993, Manhattan-based Auerbach Grayson provides research and executes trades in international securities for U.S. mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds and other institutional investors, utilizing a global network of brokerage partners.

It operates in 130 markets and was among the first foreign brokers to do business in Russia, Egypt, South Africa and Iraq, among other nations.

The firm kept doing business through wars and riots in places such as Sri Lanka and the Middle East, according to "How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance," a 2011 book by Parag Khanna.

Asked about concerns that the revolutions of the so-called Arab Spring would usher in new autocratic regimes, he said: "I just tell everybody, 'Don't listen to the noise.' Every one of these countries has had millions of people who have made their choice, and that is to have transparency, rule of law, and really empowerment of the private sector. Talking to senior executives recently in Egypt, to a person, every one of them said for the first time in their business they don't look over their shoulder when they make business decisions."