Shirley Reich

REICH, Shirley - Brokerage pioneer Shirley Reich, one of California's first female stock brokers, died of heart failure at the San Francisco Towers, April 15. Ms. Reich was a pioneer investment professional at a time when men largely dominated the field. She worked at Merrill Lynch in the early 1950s and then at Dean Witter (now Morgan Stanley Dean Witter). In 1965, Ms. Reich was the president of The Financial Women's Association of San Francisco. Ms. Reich served on the Board of Directors of That Man May See (TMMS), the support foundation for the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The organization honored her in 2003 with the first Volunteer Award for Distinguished Service for her courage and follow-through in fundraising. She brought many gifts to the university and was a personally generous philanthropist. Ms. Reich also was active on the UCSF Hospitals Auxiliary Board and was a member of Temple Emanu-El. Born in Walla Walla, WA, Ms. Reich grew up in La Grande, OR, where her family ran the town's clothing store for men. A graduate of the University of Oregon with a degree in business, she worked as a secretary in Seattle before coming to San Francisco, where she paved the way for other women to succeed in the financial industry. Ms. Reich is described as an independent, honest woman with a great sense of social compassion. She worked diligently to help fund vision research and to help the UCSF faculty find cures for blindness and vision loss. She is survived by many friends and will be greatly missed. A memorial is planned at the San Francisco Towers for May 4, at 2:00 p.m. Charitable contributions in her name can be made to That Man May See and the Jewish Home for the Aged.