Questão de Inglês — Verbos (Verbs) — FUNDATEC 2025

96-year-old secretary secretly grew a $9M fortune

By Sarah Jackson

Jane Lockshin says when she found out her 96-year-old aunt, Sylvia Bloom, had amassed a fortune of more than $9 million, she had an “oh my God moment.” Bloom was a legal secretary at a New York City law firm for 67 years, until she retired in 2016. She died shortly afterward. And it wasn’t until her relatives read her will that they realized her wealth.

According to the New York Times, Bloom grew her wealth among three brokerage houses and 11 banks. How? As a secretary, she would balance her boss’s chequebooks. When they made a trade or investment, she would secretly do the same. Again and again. In her will, Bloom said some of her fortune was to go to relatives and friends, but the majority was to go toward scholarships of Lockshin’s choice for students in need.

Lockshin spoke to “As It Happens” host Carol Off about Bloom’s legacy. Here is part of that conversation:

How did you react when you learned Sylvia Bloom had a fortune of more than $8 million?

It really was an “oh my God” moment. I was flabbergasted. I knew she was comfortable, I knew she had enough money to live on, and I knew she wanted to give money to scholarships. But I thought it was a few hundred thousand dollars.

She was a secretary for years and years. How did she amass such wealth?

You’re too young to know, but she started working at Cleary Gottlieb in 1948. And in that era… secretaries did everything for their bosses. They balanced their chequebooks, they wrote their cheques, they took their clothes to the dry cleaner, and when her boss wanted to buy stocks, he would tell her, “Call my broker and buy AT&T and however many shares.”

She would call her broker and buy AT&T, only she’d buy a smaller amount of shares.

She is donating this money to charity. Tell us what she wanted this money to be used for?

She wanted, and wants… the money to be used for scholarships for needy children. She went to college for one year and then had to drop out, and I think she dropped out to support herself and her family. She finally finished her college degree at night, working full-time. She knew how important it was to get an education and how hard it was to get an education if you didn’t have any money.

So these little bits of money that your aunt invested and raised all these millions of dollars are going to mean that a whole bunch of people get an education and have their lives changed.

Yes, for the better. You could almost start crying about it, it’s so fabulous. She was a tough woman. She was a tough, savvy New Yorker.

How do you think Sylvia Bloom would react to all the attention she's getting now?

She’d cringe. She would hate it, but I think she would accept the fact that having this much attention paid to her scholarship fund and to the organizations that are getting her funds would do good for the organizations.

(Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-full-episode-1.4651457/96-year- old-secretary-secretly-grew-9m-fortune-then-donates-to-students-1.4651864 – text specially adapted for this test).