Alfred Feld, Goldman’s Longest Serving Employee, Dies at 98

Alfred Feld, the longest serving employee at Goldman Sachs, with more than 80 years of service at the Wall Street bank, died on Monday in Palm Beach, Fla. He was 98.

Mr. Feld was listed as a Goldman employee up until his death, although in recent years he came to work infrequently. Earlier this year, he was honored by Goldman in a celebration at the firm.

His eight decades at Goldman spanned enormous change.  When he started at the firm, in 1933, the country was still feeling the effects of the Great Depression. At the time,  he said in a Wall Street Journal interview in 2003, his boss told him: “Things are so bad here there is only one way they can go, and that is up.”

Mr. Feld started out at Goldman as a messenger in the mail department making $624 a year. He was quickly promoted to office boy for the five partners of the firm. In 1936 he was promoted to research analyst, covering the railroad industry and 12 years later he came a stock broker.

He worked for a number of Goldman chiefs, from Sidney Weinberg to Gus Levy and in later years, Henry M. Paulson Jr. During his years at Goldman, the firm grew from a place known primarily for giving advice on mergers and acquisitions to companies like Ford Motor and Sears to a trading power house. It went public in 1999 and weathered the financial crisis better than most of its rivals, despite widespread criticism it did so at the expense of its clients, an allegation it denies.

While the financial markets grew immensely complicated in Mr. Feld’s lifetime, he tended to keep his investment advice simple, favoring single-name stocks, clients say. “I never understood tech,” he said in the 2003 article.

“His reputation for sound and conservative client coverage was widely known, and he advised some of the firm’s most significant relationships, many of whom have transitioned through multiple generations,” said Lloyd C. Blankfein, the firm’s chief executive officer, and Gary D. Cohn, Goldman’s president, in a memo sent today to employees.

Mr. Feld is survived by a daughter, Marjorie, and a son, Arthur  - both of whom work in the financial services industry. He also has grandchildren and a sister, Dorothy Fishman. His wife, Mildred,  died in 1983.

Here is a copy of the memo from Mr. Blankfein and Mr. Cohn:

We are deeply saddened to inform you that Alfred Feld passed away last night at the age of 98, in Palm Beach. Al was our longest-serving employee, having recently celebrated his 80th year with the firm.

Al joined Goldman Sachs on July 10, 1933 in the firm’s offices at 30 Pine Street, as an office boy. He was 18 years old. At the time, the firm comprised 200 people, including five partners. Al attended night school to earn his BS in accounting in 1936 and his MBA in 1939 from New York University, and joined the Research Department, covering the mining industry initially and then the railroad industry.

In 1942, Al was called to serve in the US Army in World War II and returned to the firm in 1948 to join our first retail securities sales group, selling stocks and bonds to individual and institutional clients. In the mid-1950s, when Goldman Sachs became the first firm on Wall Street to set up a sales group dedicated to institutional investors, Al continued to focus on individual clients, becoming part of what is now Private Wealth Management.

Al was a participant in over half of our firm’s 144-year history and witnessed some of our most important developments, including the codification of our Business Principles in 1979. He embodied many of these principles, especially the first one which states that our clients’ interests always come first. His reputation for sound and conservative client coverage was widely known, and he advised some of the firm’s most significant relationships, many of whom have transitioned through multiple generations. He was also an active and tireless mentor to our people, and we have been privileged to benefit from his wisdom, leadership and perspective over the last eight decades.

Al is survived by his daughter Marjorie and son Arthur. His wife Mildred passed away in 1983.
A funeral will be held tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. at Star of David Funeral Chapel of the Palm Beaches, 9321 Memorial Park Road, West Palm Beach, Florida, 33412. Charitable donations in Al’s memory can be made to The Mission Continues.

Please join us in recognizing Al’s remarkable service to Goldman Sachs, its clients and people, and in extending our deepest condolences to his family.

Lloyd C. Blankfein
Gary D. Cohn