Sayra Fischer Lebenthal

 Sayra I. Fischer Lebenthal  (October 17, 1898 – March 18, 1994) was a municipal bond dealer/broker and investment banker in New York City. In 1925, at the age of 27, she co-founded municipal bond brokerage firm Lebenthal & Company in Manhattan (New York City) with her husband Louis Solomon Lebenthal. The Lebenthals were responsible for "democratizing" the municipal bond business, which had long been almost the exclusive province of the rich and of institutional investors such as insurance companies. Sayra continued to work full time in the business until retiring in 1992 at the age of 93. After Louis’ death in 1951, Sayra became the first woman to run a Wall Street brokerage firm. Among her innovations was organizing a department exclusively for women investors.

Biography
Sayra I. Fischer's parents were Joseph F. Fischer Joseph F. Fischer (May 1865 - September 20, 1948). After emigrating to the United States from Poland/Russia, he and his wife Anna Abramowitz moved to Keyport, New Jersey in the late 1890s. They were married in 1895 (presumably in the United States). Joseph resided in Keyport for about 55 years, until the time of his death. The 1900 Federal Census records give his occupation in the year 1900 as "junk dealer". On April 27, 1914 he founded Fischer & Company (aka the J. Fischer Company and the J. F. Fischer Company), located at 10 Front Street in Keyport. This company was primarily a burlap bag manufacturing and burlap bag cleaning business. This business eventually relocated to Matawan, NJ. Records indicate that there may have been branches of this business operating also in Plainfield, NJ and in New York City. See: Corporations of New Jersey: List of Certificates Filed in the Department of State During the Year 1914 (Union Hill, NJ: Dispatch Printing Company, 1915) (compiled by the Secretary of State, New Jersey Dept. of State) (p. 121), and The National Corporation Reporter (Index to Vol. XLVIII - From Feb. 12, 1914 to Aug. 6, 1914) (The United States Corporation Bureau, 619-621 The Temple, Chicago) (p. 468). Mr. Fischer retired from his businesses when he was about 68 years old (in 1933). He was a member of the United Hebrew Congregation of Keyport, the Hebrew Fraternity of Perth Amboy, and 3 Masonic orders. At the time of his death his residence was located at 110 Division Street in Keyport. His funeral was held on September 21, 1948 at the Bedle Funeral Home in Keyport, with Rabbi Harry Lawrence of Keyport officiating, assisted by Rabbi Arthur H. Hershon of Red Bank. Joseph and his wife Anna are both buried in the Beth Israel Cemetery and Mausoleum (Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey). An obituary for Joseph can be found in the Red Bank Register (issue of Thursday, September 23, 1948) (Vol. LXXI, No. 13, Section Three, p. 6). (1865-1948) and Anna Abramowitz (1868-1924). Joseph and Anna had both been born in Ruś, Olsztyn County, Warmia-Masuria, Poland, before emigrating to the United States. They were married in 1895, presumably in the United States. Sayra was the third of four daughters born to Joseph and Anna Fischer. Sayra's sisters were Bessie Fischer (1895-1969), Etta (Ettie) E. Fischer (1896-1980), and Hilda Fischer (1902-1968).

Sayra was born and raised in Keyport, Monmouth County, New Jersey. She graduated from Keyport High School in 1915, then attended Syracuse University College of Law, graduating in 1920 as one of only two women in the class to earn a law degree. She was admitted to the New York Bar in 1923.

Sayra married Louis Solomon Lebenthal (May 15, 1899 - December 1951) on March 11, 1925. Several months after their marriage, the Lebenthals announced on November 28, 1925 that they were forming a bond brokering partnership named Lebenthal & Company. Eventually the Lebenthals began specializing in selling odd lots (small lots) of municipal bonds to small investors, thus broadening ("democratizing") a market that had traditionally been open only to wealthy investors. After her husband's death in 1951, Sayra remained in the business and developed a focus on tax-exempt municipal bonds for small investors.

In 1956 Sayra married attorney I. Arnold Ross (1897-1981), who became legal counsel to Lebenthal & Company.

Sayra's daughter Eleanor Lebenthal Bissinger worked at the firm alongside her husband for nearly twenty years. Her son Jim Lebenthal, was the firm's chairman and spokesman, until 1995 when he shifted the responsibility for the company to his daughter Alexandra Lebenthal, one of Sayra’s five grandchildren.

Sayra died on March 18, 1994, aged 95, after a lengthy illness.

Honors
The Sayra Fischer Lebenthal Award for Professional Excellence in Finance is presented to a woman in the financial services profession who, like Sayra, believed in teaching women the importance of understanding their investments and taking responsibility for their financial lives.