99-Year-Old Survivor Rings Bell at New York Stock Exchange
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A Holocaust refugee-turned-Wall Street financial adviser has been invited to mark her 100th birthday next month by ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
Irene Bergman, 99, is still working and would be one of the oldest people ever to open or close the trading day in the exchange, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
“It’s an honor that I never would have expected,” Bergman told Bloomberg. “It’s very important to me and I’ll tell you why: my father was vice president of the Berlin stock exchange and I’m sure he would be very happy.”
Bergman immigrated to the United States in 1942, after fleeing the Nazi-occupied Netherlands and, before that, Germany. An employee of Stralem & Co. since 1973, Bergman currently works out of her New York apartment.
In an interview last month with Bloomberg, she credited her longevity to good genes.
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