Sylvia Bloom, a longtime Wall Street legal secretary who spent 67 years at the same law firm while living in a rent-controlled apartment, left $6.24 million to the Henry Street Settlement in New York City after her death in 2016. Her gift, revealed in 2018, was the largest single donation from an individual in the history of the social services organization at the time.
Bloom died at 96, leaving behind an estate worth more than $9 million. Her wealth surprised even her closest friends and relatives, who had known her as a private woman who lived simply and took the subway to work.
Rather than spending her money on a lavish lifestyle, Bloom built her fortune through years of investing. She followed the stock choices made by the lawyers she worked for, buying smaller amounts of the same stocks with her own salary.
Her will directed most of her wealth toward scholarships for students in need. According to The New York Times, the $6.24 million donation to Henry Street Settlement was intended to help young people prepare for college and complete their education.
Jane Lockshin, Bloom’s niece and the executor of her estate, helped carry out that plan. Lockshin also served as treasurer of Henry Street Settlement’s board, connecting her aunt’s wishes with an organization that supports young people and families in New York.
Bloom was born around 1919 in Brooklyn, New York, to parents who had immigrated from Eastern Europe. She grew up during the Great Depression, a time when many families struggled to find enough money for basic needs.
She attended public schools and studied at Hunter College while working during the day. By attending classes at night, she earned her degree while supporting herself.
On Feb. 24, 1947, Bloom joined a young Wall Street law firm that later became Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. She was among its first employees and remained with the firm until her retirement in 2016.
During her 67 years there, the firm grew into a major international law practice with more than 1,200 lawyers and hundreds of other employees. Bloom became its longest-serving staff member, according to Paul Hyams, a human resources executive who worked with her for 35 years.
Her job involved more than office duties. As a legal secretary, she also handled personal matters for the lawyers she assisted, including their stock purchases.
Her niece, Jane Lockshin, explained how Bloom began investing in the market.
“She was a secretary in an era when they ran their boss’s lives, including their personal investments,” Lockshin recalled. “So when the boss would buy a stock, she would make the purchase for him, and then buy the same stock for herself, but in a smaller amount because she was on a secretary’s salary.”
Over time, those investments grew. Bloom kept her money in her own name and used three brokerage houses and 11 banks to manage her assets.
By the time she died, her estate was worth more than $9 million. Her relatives had not known the full size of her fortune.
Lockshin described the discovery as “an oh my God moment.”
“I realized she had millions and she had never mentioned a word,” Lockshin said. “I don’t think she thought it was anybody’s business but her own.”
Bloom’s investment success was especially striking because she did not earn the salary of a Wall Street lawyer. Instead, she built her wealth over many decades while continuing to live within her means.
Bloom’s will set aside some money for family members and friends, but most of her estate was intended to support scholarships for students who needed financial help.
The largest portion went to Henry Street Settlement, a nonprofit organization on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Founded in 1893 by public health pioneer Lillian Wald, the organization provides education support, health services, transitional housing and other community programs.
The $6.24 million bequest was directed to the organization’s Expanded Horizons College Success Program. The program helps students from disadvantaged backgrounds prepare for college, enter higher education and work toward completing their degrees.
When Lockshin contacted Henry Street Settlement Executive Director David Garza about the gift, he was stunned by its size.
Garza said the organization was “blown away” by the news. He later described Bloom’s donation as “the epitome of selflessness.”
The donation also created a lasting connection between Bloom’s name and the education opportunities she wanted students to receive. The money helped establish the Bloom-Margolies Scholarship Fund within the Expanded Horizons College Success Program.
Bloom’s will also directed another $2 million to be divided between Hunter College, where she had earned her degree, and another scholarship fund. Her family and friends received smaller portions of the estate.
She and her husband, Raymond Margolies, lived in a rent-controlled apartment. Margolies worked as a city firefighter before becoming a public schoolteacher. He died in 2002, and the couple had no children.
Bloom kept her finances private, and most of her investments were held in her name alone. According to Lockshin, it was possible that even her husband did not know how much money she had saved.
Her modest habits continued throughout her working life. She usually took the subway to work rather than spending money on a car or taxi.
On the morning of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Bloom was 84 and traveling to work near the World Trade Center. She fled north, took shelter in a building and later walked across the Brooklyn Bridge before taking a city bus home.
Even in her final months before retirement, she remained committed to her job. Hyams recalled seeing Bloom, then 96, making her way out of the subway during a heavy snowstorm to reach the office.
He asked her why she had come to work in such difficult weather.
“Why, where should I be?” she replied.
Bloom retired in 2016 at age 96. She later moved to a senior residence on the Upper West Side, where she hoped to find a good bridge game, according to her cousin Flora Mogul Bornstein.
Hyams said Bloom had once regretted never attending law school. Still, she never sought attention for her money or achievements.
“She never talked money and she didn’t live the high life,” he said. “She wasn’t showy and didn’t want to call attention to herself.”
Related: Oprah Winfrey gave another $13 million to her Morehouse College scholarship fund in 2019, taking her total to $25 million; the fund she started in 1989 has supported more than 400 students