Financial History Issue 128 (Winter 2019) | Page 35
was renamed Newburger, Loeb & Co.
and had branches in Philadelphia and
New York. Among the Newburger family
members, Frank, by then the president of
the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and his
brother-in-law, Horace Loeb, were based
in Philadelphia. Lester and his nephew,
Morton J., were based in New York, along
with Jacob and Daniel Loeb, Jacob and
Horace’s nephew. Alfred’s son, Morris, a
Harvard graduate, and Frank’s son, Frank
Jr., also joined the firm at that time.
Frank Lieberman Newburger, Jr., born
in 1908, was a Cornell University gradu-
ate. His brother, Richard Langfeld New-
burger, who was three years younger,
graduated from the University of Virginia
before joining the family firm as a broker.
In 1935, they were joined by their cousin,
Robert Lester Newberger, Lester’s son.
Robert’s brother, Andrew, a Princeton
graduate, also joined the family firm. As
the new generation took over the helm
of the firm, the older generation began
to step down. The year Robert joined the
firm, Frank Sr., Horace and Jacob F. Loeb,
and Morton J. became special partners in
the firm. (Horace died later that year, and
Jacob died in 1937.) Richard was made a
partner in 1937, and Robert was made a
“The New York Stock Exchange
is not a cold, heartless
organization. It isn’t eighths
and quarters or decimal
points—it’s people.”
—Robert Lester Newburger
partner in 1938. He became a floor broker
on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
in 1940.
In 1939, the partners signed a new part-
nership agreement that extended until
1942. With the outbreak of World War II,
the partnership was modified as members
of the firm joined the armed forces. Frank
Sr. and his sons, Frank Jr. and Richard,
were based in Philadelphia, while other
family members, notably Lester and his
sons, Robert and Andrew, and Morris,
Alfred’s son, were based in New York.
During this time, the Philadelphia and
New York partners became conflicted
over how to proceed during wartime,
which led the family business to split into
two separate firms.
According to the findings of fact in a
tax case that emerged from this period,
Frank Jr., who was based in Philadelphia,
“became concerned in the spring of 1942
over the possibility that the Philadelphia
business might be lost during the war if
he were to follow Richard, then on active
duty, into the armed forces.” He wanted
to combine the firm with the Philadelphia
firm of Content, Hano & Co., “their prin-
cipal competitor.” According to the court,
“This effort resulted in a division between
the Philadelphia partners and the New
York partners. The latter wanted the firm
to continue alone, as formerly.”
Frank Jr. “proposed that the firm be
dissolved immediately” and that the New
York and Philadelphia houses split the
business. Initially, the New York part-
ners were opposed to this suggestion, but
eventually the two branches negotiated
an agreement regarding the withdrawal
of capital, usage of the firm’s name and
good will, and agreed to separate their
New York stock transfer memorandum from Newburger, Henderson & Loeb, dated January 13, 1922.
www.MoAF.org | Winter 2019 | FINANCIAL HISTORY 33