Alfred Bloomingdale
| Alfred S. Bloomingdale | |
|---|---|
Alfred Bloomingdale, 1981
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| Born |
Alfred Schiffer Bloomingdale April 15, 1916 New York City, New York |
| Died | August 23, 1982 (aged 66) Santa Monica, California |
| Resting place | Holy Cross Cemetery |
| Nationality | United States |
| Alma mater | Brown University |
| Known for | Father of the Credit Card |
| Spouse(s) | Betty Lee Newling (m. 1946-1982; his death) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | Hiram Bloomingdale Rosalind Schiffer |
| Family | Lyman G. Bloomingdale (grandfather) |
Alfred Schiffer Bloomingdale (April 15, 1916 – August 23, 1982) was an heir to the Bloomingdale's department store fortune, "father of the credit card", and the lover of murdered Hollywood model Vicki Morgan.
Bloomingdale was born into great wealth on April 15, 1916 in New York City. He was the son of Rosalind (née Schiffer) and Hiram Bloomingdale, and the grandson of Lyman G. Bloomingdale, a co-founder of the famous department store Bloomingdales. Bloomingdale attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was a member of the football team as well as Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Upsilon chapter).
To facilitate the need of his wealthy friends who liked to patronize New York city's upscale restaurants following a night at the theater, Bloomingdale launched a credit card business called "Dine and Sign" that meant people on a night out no longer needed to carry large sums of cash. In 1951, he merged his company with Diners Club and joined the rapidly growing business as an executive, becoming chairman of the board of directors in 1964. In 1969, he left Diners Club, acquiring its "International Floatels" division.
In 1946, he married, secondly, to Betty Lee Newling, a practicing Roman Catholic, movie starlet and daughter of Dr. Russell Lee Newling, an Adelaide, South Australia-born American physician, with a practice in Beverly Hills. Alfred and Betsy Bloomingdale had three children:
Bloomingdale and his wife Betty were friends and confidantes of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. In 1981, following his election to the U.S. presidency, Reagan appointed Bloomingdale to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and the following year named him a member of the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. Although born to a Jewish family, Bloomingdale became a Catholic to marry his second wife, and later became a member of the Knights of Malta. The Bloomingdales maintained homes in New York, the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles, and an apartment in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C.
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