(FORTUNE Magazine) – Did you hear the news? Wall Street's version of Doogie Howser is retiring. That's right, Goldman Sachs whiz kid Eric Mindich, 36, will be leaving the firm in November. At an age when most of us drones are simply trying to wangle our first invite to the management offsite in Scottsdale, Doogie, I mean Eric, is waltzing off into the sunset. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Mindich is said to be one of the sharpest knives in the drawer down at Goldman, and you'd better believe he worked his butt off for those 15 years. Still I can't help but feel a twinge--no, make that a humongous tidal wave--of jealousy.

I dropped by to visit Mindich the other day for what turned out to be his first extended press interview, and I must say I was sorely disappointed. I was hoping to find a burned-out, weathered-looking guy, beaten down by years toiling in Goldman's salt mine. But, maddeningly, Eric Mindich doesn't look a day over 29!

Mindich's story starts off as you might expect. He's one of those guys who were always interested in the markets. "I looked at the business pages and read newsletters when I was a kid growing up in Scarsdale," he told me. "My grandfather gave me some money to buy stocks." During summers while at Harvard, Mindich got a job at J. Aron, a commodities trading company that was part of Goldman. Upon graduation in 1988 (Summa and Phi Beta, of course), Mindich dropped by Goldman to tell his bosses that he was going to study at Oxford. "They told me to forget that," Mindich recalls. "They said I should work at Goldman instead."

Mindich began in the firm's risk-arbitrage business that October. Risk arbitrage then was strictly the business of betting on big M&A deals, and Goldman's risk-arb business was a particularly happening place. It had recently been run by Bob Rubin, who had just moved upstairs to the firm's executive offices. In 1992, Goldman's head of arbitrage, Frank Brosens, also went upstairs, leaving Mindich living large and in charge at the age of 25. Despite a collapse in the arbitrage market, he expanded by looking for deals overseas and moving into the business of buying distressed securities.

Mindich's strategy apparently worked like a charm. In October 1994, Mindich got Wall Street's ultimate brass ring, a Goldman Sachs partnership. He was 27 years old, the youngest partner ever at Goldman. Mindich's story wasn't lost on the press. The Wall Street Journal opened a C1 story with this: "He's 27, single, and rich."

Mindich continued to move up Goldman's ranks, becoming co-head of the equities division in 2002 and joining the firm's management committee. He helped define and carry out the firm's acquisition strategy and became one of Goldman's most senior execs. "Eric is one of the ablest people I have ever worked with," says Jon Corzine, the New Jersey Senator and former Goldman CEO.

And now Eric Mindich, 36, has chosen to retire. On many levels it makes perfect sense. The average tenure of a Goldman partner is eight years; Mindich has been a partner for nine. Money, of course, isn't an issue. It's reported that the average Goldman partner made more than $60 million when the firm went public in 1999. Mindich says he has the desire to run his own show and wants to spend more time with his family.

Okay, I don't know, maybe I'm just a little envious, but it just seems a bit strange to be going through all that at age 36. At least one other person thinks it's somewhat strange too--Mindich's father, Mel Mindich, 60, who is still working developing golf courses. On the other hand, maybe that's the American dream redefined: Retiring before your dad.