Frederick L. Ehrman

Frederick L. Ehrman
Associated Library: 
Administrative Offices

Frederick L. Ehrman was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of NYU Langone Health and a Trustee of New York University. Both he and his wife were major contributors to the Medical Library, named the Frederick L. Ehrman Library, and to an endowed professorship in Cell Biology.

Frederick L. Ehrman was born in San Francisco in 1906, and graduated from the University of California in 1927. He joined Lehman Brothers by 1929. He became chairman of the executive committee in 1969 after Robert Lehman died, and was also chairman of the international investment banking firm incorporated in 1970. "At his death, Mr. Ehrman was a director and member of the executive committee of the Greyhound Corporation, a director of Beckman Instruments, the 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, the May Department Stores Company, Travelers Express Company and the General Fire & Casualty Company and a member of the Bankers Trust Company downtown advisory committee... Active in philanthropy, Mr. Ehrman was chairman of the executive committee of New York University Medical Center, a director of the American Cancer Society and the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association, a trustee and member of the executive committee of New York University, and a trustee of Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California and of the Institute for the Crippled and Disabled." He was also a director of the United Nations Association, and chairman of the state Republican National Finance Committee in 1969. (Frederick Ehrman Dies at 67; Led Lehman Brothers Board. New York Times, Dec. 21, 1973.)

Ehrman was a director of Radio-Keith-Orpheum Corporation since at least 1939. (Reorganized R.K.O. Lists New Officers. New York Times, Feb. 25, 1939.) In 1959, he was part of a group of insurgent stockholders which failed to gain control of Bayuk Cigars. The group included Howard Mack, Harry P. Wurman, Edgar M. Cullman, Richard C. Ernst, Armand G. Erpf, Judd L. Pollock, Simon H. Rifkind and Robert E. Simon Jr. (Insurgents Defeated in Contest For the Control of Bayuk Cigars. New York Times, May 7, 1959.) He was elected to the board of Bellevue Hospital in 1959, and became chairman in 1969. (Ehrman Elected Chairman of N.Y.U.'s Medical Center. New York Times, Apr. 2, 1969.) In 1973, Peter G. Peterson became the new chairman and chief executive of Lehman Brothers. Ehrman's nephew, F. Warren Hellman, remained as president of the investment banking house. (Peterson Named Chief Executive of Lehman Brothers. New York Times, Jul. 27, 1973.) David D. Sabatini, a member of the 1996 Scientific Advisory Board of the Council for Tobacco Research, was the Frederick L. Ehrman Professor of Cell Biology and Chairman of the Department of Cell Biology at New York University.

Frederick L. Ehrman of Lehman Brothers attended the meeting of the Board of Directors of Philip Morris Incorporated held at the offices of the company at 100 Park Avenue in New York City, on June 24, 1959. J. Russell Forgan of DuPont Glore Forgan [former O.S.S. official and C.I.A. founder] also attended. A registration statement covering a proposed issue of $40,000,000 principle amount of Sinking Fund Debentures was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, to be handled by the First National City Trust Company. "Thereupon, Messrs. Ehrman and Forgan retired from the meeting." (Philip Morris Meeting Minutes, June 24, 1959.)

Frederick L. Ehrman and his wife, Edit K. Ehrman, were major contributors to NYU Langone's medical library, named the Frederick L. Ehrman Library, and to an endowed professorship in Cell Biology. Mrs. Ehrman continued her late husband's philanthropic efforts on behalf of NYU. (source: The New York Times)