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The Winner Within

There was talent and there was diligence, and then there was luck shining through Brandon J. Buchanan's days. Take the time he entered a contest, sponsored by Bloomingdale's, a block from his apartment, where the prize was a Ducati motorcycle. He really wanted to win. He hadn't heard anything, said his father, Ron, so he phoned the store one day to ask who had won.

"It hasn't been announced yet," someone at the store told him.

"Well, it wouldn't happen to be Brandon Buchanan, would it?" he asked.

The employee gasped and said, "How did you know?"

It was a charmed life that Mr. Buchanan, 24, an equities trader at Cantor Fitzgerald, led in many ways. In other ways, his hard work made the difference. When he wanted to master some aspect of lacrosse, he would go out and drill the ball against the side of his family's barn in Honeoye Falls, N.Y., until he was satisfied. When he was 15 and wanted to fire up the neighborhood dogs, he began barking until they all joined in. Snow fell, and he hitched a toboggan to the family tractor and pulled his twin siblings around.

"He was a beacon light," said his mother, Cheri, who was called "Mumzdarlin" by her son. "He really did lead all of us."

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on March 17, 2002.