Bruce Harold Greenfield

GREENFIELD

BRUCE HAROLD, of Sarasota, a lawyer, banker, author, lecturer and civic leader, died of cancer on Nov. 8, 2005 while vacationing in Huntingdon Valley. He was 88 years old. A Philadelphia native, Mr. Greenfield was the son of William I. Greenfield and Bertha Kaufman Greenfield. He grew up in the Strawberry Mansion area of Philadelphia with four siblings. He attended Philadelphia public schools, graduating from Olney High School. He graduated first in his class, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Duke University in 1938 with a BA in Economics and Political Science. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1941, specializing in Federal Taxation. Following his graduation from Yale he worked until 1948 for the Treasury Department in their Office of Tax Legislation.
He served as a member of the advisory group to the U S Commissioner of Internal Revenue, was President of the Tax Executives Institute and lectured at tax forums including those sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, the Legal Intelligencer, Dickinson College, Tulane University, Rutgers State University, Philadelphia Bar Association, Federal Bar Association and the Real Estate Board. His papers appeared in publications including: Commerce Clearing House - Taxes, Prentice Hall - Tax Ideas, the Proceedings of the New York University Annual Institute of Federal Taxation, the Tulane Tax Institute, Taxes Magazine and the American University Tax Institute. Mr. Greenfield had a lifelong passion for the United States military. As a teenager he volunteered for the U.S. Army's Citizens Military Training Camp. He then volunteered for duty and served as a member of the 308th horse cavalry unit at Ft. Myer, VA. When war broke out there was no call for horse cavalry, so after attending infantry camp in Ft. Meade, MD, he applied for and was accepted to the U.S. Army Command and General Staff School at the prestigious Army War College at Ft. Leavenworth, KS, where he graduated second in his class. Upon graduation he was sent to Karachi Air Base in India where he applied his professional legal training and served as a claims officer investigating accidents of all varieties and was frequently the first American at the scene. Once his active duty was completed, Mr. Greenfield served in the Army Reserves for the maximum term permitted and retired after thirty years at the rank of Colonel. After release from active duty, Mr. Greenfield returned to the Treasury Department and then joined Folz, Bard, Kamsler, Goodis and Greenfield, as a partner specializing in federal tax matters. In 1953, he joined his uncle, Albert M. Greenfield, at Bankers Securities Corporation, a diverse holding company with multiple real estate assets in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Boston. Mr. Greenfield remained at BSC for 30 years serving as a Director and its President from 1970 to 1982. Under his leadership they operated department, specialty and home furnishing stores, including Franklin Simon, Lit Brothers and W & J. Sloane Co., in addition to a wide range of hotels, office buildings and real estate properties, Bankers Bond & Mortgage Guarantee Co. of America, Loft Candy Company and other interests.
Mr. Greenfield devoted a great deal of time and attention to a number of civic and philanthropic interests. He was a member of the national board of directors of the Girl Scouts USA where he chaired their finance committee and contributed over 20 years of legal and financial expertise to the Girl Scouts. He set up and was the last remaining founding member of the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation; and he served as a member of the board of Continental Bank and Trust Co., for 30 years. He also was a member of the board of the American Jewish Committee, the Broad Street South Committee and served as finance committee chair for Rodelph Shalom Synagogue.
His greatest joys were his wife and family. In September, Mr. Greenfield celebrated his fiftieth wedding anniversary in Cape May, New Jersey, with his wife Adele, and all of their children and grandchildren. In addition to his wife, Mr. Greenfield is survived by his four children, Julie Chapin, Gregory Greenfield, Elizabeth Martin, and Margaret Van Sciver; eleven grandchildren; a brother and a sister. A private funeral will be held at Arlington National Cemetery. A celebration of his life will be scheduled in January 2006. Donations may be made in his memory to Girls Scouts USA, 420 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018.