Broker with spotless industry record is being remembered as 'an ambassador of the office'
One of those slain in the horrific shooting at the Highland Park, Illinois Fourth of July parade on Monday included an 88-year-old brokerage veteran, AdvisorHub Staff reports.
In a message released on Wednesday, the company's CEO Ron Kruszewski described Stephen Straus, a vice president and financial advisor with Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. in Chicago, as "an ambassador of the office."
The email stated that he commuted daily by train into the city and was "gentle, warm-hearted, and had a great sense of humor."
“He continued to serve his valued clients at age 88, not because he had to, but because he wanted to,” Kruszewski wrote. “Our thoughts are with the Straus family, as well as with the families of the other victims.”
According to BrokerCheck, Straus registered as a broker at Glore Forgan Staats Inc. for the first time in 1968. Before joining Stifel in 1998, he worked at Rodman & Renshaw Inc., a New York investment bank and broker-dealer, for 24 years.
Over the course of his work, he has not been the subject of recorded client complaints or other alleged disclosure events.
“It was a tragic, senseless loss,” his niece, Cynthia Straus, wrote on Facebook. “Steve was 88 years old, in remarkably good health, and still went to work everyday.”
Seven people died and over thirty more were hurt in the incident in the suburb north of Chicago.
According to press sources, seven counts of first-degree murder have been brought against the 21-year-old suspect, Robert E. Crimo III.
Lake County State Attorney Eric Rinehart described the incident as a “premeditated and calculated attack.”
