[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 3, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7230-S7231]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        A TRIBUTE TO OUR FRIEND

 Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President I rise today to pay tribute to 
and wish a happy birthday to one of my dearest friends, Louis Reich.
  Louis was born on May 24, 1903 in Brooklyn, NY, the middle of three 
children. His sister Anne is now 102. By the time he was 15, Louis had 
a job at a big law firm on Wall Street where he made 25 cents for a car 
fare and food. For lunch he ate at Max's Busy Bee where he could get a 
frank, beans, waffles, ice cream and coffee for 15 cents. Those were 
the days.
  Everyday he would come up from Max's basement location and encounter 
men standing in the middle of the street yelling up to people in four 
surrounding buildings. These men were

[[Page S7231]]

called ``brokers'' and they were buying and selling stocks. In fact, 
Louis was witnessing the birth of the New York Curb Exchange. He was so 
entranced with the scene that he got a job as a runner paying $8 a 
week. Wanting a way to make more money, he headed to Jerome B. Sullivan 
& Co., where he was hired as a clerk.
  By the time he was 22, he was the head cashier at Sullivan making 
$100 a week plus bonus. Soon afterwards he formed the New York Curb 
Cashiers Exchange and was elected president. In 1923, he was introduced 
to Kitty Hirshleifer by his closest friend Jerry Goldberg. Four years 
later, Louis and Kitty were married. When Louis got his bonus from 
Sullivan that month the company made him a partner and he spent his 
newfound wealth on a trip to the coast, a new Cadillac and an apartment 
for $125 a month. Not many apartments available at those rates in New 
York today.
  The crash came in 1929 and Louis was left nearly penniless. 
Demonstrating his adaptability he purchased a seat on the Curb Exchange 
with his brother Al and his cousin Ernie. His salary was now $50 a 
week. From 1933 to 1938 Louis became an arbitrageur. He sensed that the 
Canadian market was becoming competitive and through connections in 
Canada he started to urge companies to apply for listing on what used 
to be the Curb Exchange, but now known as the American Stock Exchange.
  He formed a partnership with Moe Weiss which lasted for many years. 
Around 1955 Lou became a governor of the American Stock Exchange and 
chairman of the listing committee.
  A few years later in 1959 I met Lou when his back-office manager saw 
an ad about a company who could process payrolls. It was a company I 
know a little about, Automatic Data Processing. At that point I was the 
company's salesperson and Reich & Co. signed on. We became dear friends 
ever since.
  I owe Lou a great deal because he really spread the word about ADP. 
Henry Taub worked to have ADP handle all of the back office operations. 
Within a year ADP had a system to process securities transactions. 
Today, in large part thanks to Lou, ADP is one of the largest payroll 
and securities processing firms in the world.
  Louis Reich is now 100 years old. He brings a wonderful history and 
an important legacy of leadership in one of the most important 
industries we have. The investment and finance sector helped build this 
country's pre-eminence in the global economy to the point that it has 
become. He has many happy, exciting memories. The names he remembers 
from that bygone era--those who worked for him--and with him are too 
numerous to mention here. And the one person who stood by him through 
it all--the one person who will be forever in his heart and who truly 
would have enjoyed this day--his darling wife--Kitty, the one who he 
misses most of all. They are all here in spirit and will never be 
forgotten. We wish him many more years that we can celebrate 
together.

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