Alfred S. Bloomingdale

Alfred S. Bloomingdale
Alfred Bloomingdale, 1981
Born Alfred Schiffer Bloomingdale
(1916-04-15)April 15, 1916
New York City, New York
Died August 23, 1982(1982-08-23) (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 sex worker and dominatrix Vicki Morgan.[1]

Early life and education

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,[2] 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).

Career

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.[3]

Personal life

In 1946, he married, secondly, to Betty Lee "Betsy" 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:[4]

  • Geoffrey Bloomingdale (born 1950);[5]
  • Lisa Bloomingdale Bell (born 1951);[6] and
  • Robert Russell Bloomingdale (born 1954).[7]

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[8] 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,[9][10] and later became a member of the Knights of Malta.[11] 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.

Vicki Morgan affair

In 1970, while in Los Angeles, 54-year-old Alfred Bloomingdale began an affair with 18-year-old Vicki Morgan. For 12 years, Bloomingdale kept her in a luxurious apartment, showering her with expensive clothing, jewelry, and cars.[1] When Alfred was diagnosed with terminal cancer, his wife Betsy cut off Morgan's allowance.[1][12] Soon after, the affair with Vicki Morgan made headline news as its unsubstantiated and sordid details, which included allegations of sado-masochistic activities instigated by Bloomingdale, were made public after Morgan filed a multimillion-dollar palimony lawsuit against Bloomingdale's estate. The case against Bloomingdale's estate was quickly dismissed by the courts. Morgan eventually moved into a low-rent condominium in the San Fernando Valley where she rented a room to a schizophrenic named Marvin Pancoast, whom she knew from the withdrawal clinic. In July 1983, Pancoast beat her to death with a baseball bat.[1][12]

Death

Alfred Bloomingdale died of throat cancer in 1982 in Santa Monica, California, aged 66. He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Posthumous accusation of attempted rape

In 2017, Janis Paige wrote a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter in which she stated that Alfred Bloomingdale had attempted to rape her when she was 22 years old.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Poisoned Passions at Investigation Discovery Archived 2013-06-24 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ American Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Business Visionaries by Charles W. Carey retrieved March 18, 2013
  3. ↑ Carey, Charles W., Jr. (2002). American Inventors, Entrepreneurs & Business Visionaries, pp. 30-31. Facts on File, Inc.
  4. ↑ "Two Unerdervalued Diors Get Betsy Bloomingdale in Trouble with the Feds in Los Angeles", people.com, September 13, 1976.
  5. ↑ New York Times: "Geoffrey Bloomingdale Weds Elizabeth Fahr" June 15, 1972
  6. ↑ New York Times: "R. McKim Bell, Lawyer, Weds Lisa Bloomingdale" September 22, 1974 | "St. Paul the Apostle Roman Catholic Church was the setting in Los Angeles yesterday afternoon for the marriage of Lisa Bloomingdale to Robert McKim Bell"
  7. ↑ New York Times: "Justine H. Schmidt, R. R. Bloomingdale Wed in California" September 9, 1979
  8. ↑ Abscher, Kenneth M.; Desch, Michael C.; & Popadiuk, Roman. "The President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board", in Johnson, Loch K., ed. (2010). The Oxford Handbook of National Security Intelligence, p. 182. Oxford University Press, Inc.
  9. ↑ Colacello, Bob (May 29, 2009). "Ronnie & Nancy". Vanity Fair.
  10. ↑ Kelley, Kitty (1992-01-01). Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography. Pocket Star Books. p. 400. ISBN 9780671646479.
  11. ↑ Knights of Malta, timesofindia.indiatimes.com; retrieved November 12, 2012.
  12. 1 2 "Dominick Dunne: lost and found" by Mick Brown (October 18, 2008) Telegraph of London
  13. ↑ Paige, Janis (October 27, 2017). "Harassment in Hollywood's Golden Age: Survivor Janis Paige's Firsthand Story". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 28, 2017.
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