NYC Secretary Donates Secret Fortune To LES Nonprofit

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — A longtime legal secretary who quietly collected a small fortune throughout her life donated the bulk of that fortune to a Lower East Side nonprofit in her will, the nonprofit announced this week.

Sylvia Bloom, who died in 2016 at age 97, left a stunning $6.24 million gift to the Henry Street Settlement in her will, the largest single estate gift that the nonprofit has received in its history. The gift was donated in February and made public this week by the nonprofit, which works with more than 60,000 New Yorkers a year across a range of social services.

Bloom, who also used the name Sylvia Bloom-Margolies, stunned her friends and family when they learned of her $9 million fortune after her death, the Henry Street Settlement said in a statement.

Bloom's niece Jane Lockshin, who sits on the nonprofit's Board of Directors, was the executor of her aunt's estate and given the authority decide where to put her aunt's money

"I was given the discretion make the donation to an organization that offered educational opportunities to low-income youth," Lockshin said in a statement. "Aunt Sylvia, who earned her college degree at night school, always valued education and wanted her estate to benefit those with limited educational opportunities."

Bloom, who worked as a legal secretary at the firm Cleary Gottlieb for 67 years, made mer money through a series of investments throughout her career, according to the Henry Street Settlement. Whenever she was required to buy a stock for her boss at the law firm, she would purchase the same stock in a smaller amount, the nonprofit said.

Lockshin told the New York Times, which first reported on Bloom's donation, that she didn't know about her aunt's fortune until after her death.

"I realized she had millions and she had never mentioned a word," Lockshin told the Times. "I don’t think she thought it was anybody’s business but her own."

The donation will create an endowment through the Bloom-Margolies Scholarship Fund. The fund will support low-income students from high school through college graduation. Henry Street Settlement provides a range of services and programs for students to prepare them for college and then help them finish their degrees once there, including college counseling, SAT prep, tutoring and visits to college campuses. Most of the students supported by Henry Street Settlement are first generation college students, according to the organization. Last year, 76 students in the nonprofit's college access program were accepted to college after a combined 334 hours of college counseling, the organization said.

Another $2 million from Bloom's estate will be split between Hunter College, Bloom's alma mater, and another scholarship fund that is yet to be announced, according to the Times.

"I know that Henry Street does what it says it will do," Lockshin said of her decision to support the nonprofit. "It’s a well-respected and responsible organization, does outstanding work and is firmly grounded in New York City. And, it has soul."

Image credit: Courtesy of Henry Street Settlement