The financial services industry lost a pioneer over the weekend. The first women to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, Muriel “Mickie” Siebert, passed away on Saturday from complications of cancer at the age of 80, her firm reported Monday.
Siebert, who went on to found Siebert Financial Corporation, bought her seat on the New York Stock Exchange in December 1967. Forging new ground for women in the field, Siebert established her own firm that very same year and transformed it into a discount brokerage in 1975, on the first day members were allowed to negotiate commissions.
A Cleveland native, Siebert started her career as a research trainee with Bache & Co. in 1954 at the age of 22. She rose through the ranks as an industry specialist in airlines and aerospace, later becoming a partner at Brimberg & Co., the AP reported.
In addition to founding Muriel Siebert & Co. Inc—which went public in 1996 as Siebert Financial—she served as the first female Superintendent of Banking for five years starting in 1977 and unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat in 1982.
“Although she is best known as the first woman to own a seat on the NYSE, she really became one of the great personalities on Wall Street of either sex,” says Siebert’s CEO Joseph M. Ramos. “Mickie was a pioneer and recognized as a leader throughout the industry and beyond. She was respected as a strong voice of integrity, reason and sound business practices.”