M. Siebert, 1st female NYSE member

NEW YORK

- Muriel "Mickie" Siebert, the first woman to become a member of the New York Stock Exchange, has died of complications of cancer at age 80.

Siebert died Saturday at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Her death was confirmed by Jane Macon, a director of Siebert Financial and a partner at the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.

Siebert was founder and president of the brokerage firm that bears her name, Muriel Siebert & Co. Inc. The company went public in 1996 as Siebert Financial Corp.

Macon said Siebert was "a fabulous woman, a trailblazer and a pioneer" who set a high standard for those who entered the financial world after her.

Siebert, who was born in Cleveland and moved to New York in 1954 at age 22, started her career as a trainee in research at Bache & Co. earning a $65 a week. She went on to become an industry specialist in airlines and aerospace and later became a partner at brokerages including Brimberg & Co.

She bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in December 1967 after months of struggling with the male-dominated business world that initially resisted her efforts to join. She established her investment firm the same year and transformed it into a discount brokerage house in 1975.

Siebert took a leave of absence from the company in 1977 and placed it in a blind trust to be run by the employees when she was appointed the first female superintendent of banking for the state of New York by Gov. Hugh Carey. She served five years.