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Jane Lockshin says when she found out her 96-year-old aunt, Sylvia Bloom, had amassed a fortune of more than $9 million, she had an "oh my God moment."

Bloom was a legal secretary at a New York City law firm for 67 years, until she retired in 2016. She died shortly afterwards. And it wasn't until her relatives read her will that they realized her wealth.

​According to the New York Times, Bloom grew her wealth among three brokerage houses and 11 banks. How? As a secretary, she would balance her bosses chequebooks. When they made a trade or investment, she would secretly do the same. Again and again.

$6.24 million of Sylvia Bloom's fortune is going to the Henry Street Settlement's Expanded Horizons College Success Program (Jane Lockshin)

In her will, Bloom said some of her fortune was to go to relatives and friends, but the majority was to go toward scholarships of Lockshin's choice for students in need.

Lockshin spoke to As It Happens host Carol Off about Bloom's legacy. Here is part of that conversation.

How did you react when you learned [Sylvia Bloom] had a fortune of more than $8 million?

It really was an "oh my God" moment. I was flabbergasted.

I knew she was comfortable, I knew she had enough money to live on and I knew she wanted to give money to scholarships.

But I thought it was a few hundred thousand dollars. Sylvia Bloom, photographed here with her husband, worked at the same law firm for 67 years (Jane Lockshin)

She was a secretary for years and years. How did she amass such wealth?

You're too young to know, but she started working at Cleary Gottlieb in 1948. And in that era…secretaries did everything for their bosses.

They balanced their chequebooks, they wrote their cheques, they took their clothes to the dry cleaner and when her boss wanted to buy stocks he would tell her, "Call my broker and buy AT&T and however many shares."

She would call her broker and buy AT&T, only she'd buy a smaller amount of shares. And that's how she accumulated her wealth.

Jane Lockshin said she was "flabbergasted" when she found out about her aunt's wealth (Jane Lockshin )

Some [from the law firm] have described how they saw her heading to work in her 90s, taking the subway and in a snowstorm.

She always took the subway. She never took cabs.

She was there at 9/11. Cleary Gottlieb is literally across the street from the World Trade Centre. She told me when she got off the subway she saw there was smoke and they were telling people to go up Broadway.

She walked up Broadway and took shelter in a store and when they finally let the people leave she walked across the Brooklyn bridge and took a bus home. Didn't take a cab, took a bus.

She is donating this money to charity. Tell us what she wanted this money to be used for?

She wanted, and wants… the money to be used for scholarships for needy children.

She went to college for one year and then had to drop out, and I think she dropped out to support herself and her family. She finally finished her college degree at night working full time

She knew how A important it was to get an education and B how hard it was to get an education if you didn't have any money.

Sylvia Bloom worked at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in New York City for 67 years, and during that time she invested in the same stocks as the lawyers she worked for. (Submitted by Jane Lockshin)

So she's giving $6.24 million to the Henry Street Settlement in the Lower East Side where they're going to use it for scholarships for the Expanded Horizons College Success Program. How did they react when you told them that?

They were flabbergasted too.

So these little bits of money that your aunt invested and raised all these millions of dollars is going to mean that a whole bunch of people get an education and have their lives changed.

Yes, for the better. You could almost start crying about it, it's so fabulous.

She was a tough woman. She was a tough, savvy New Yorker.

How do you think Sylvia Bloom would react to all the attention she's getting now?

She'd cringe.

She would hate it, but I think she would accept the fact that having this much attention paid to her scholarship fund and to the organizations that are getting her funds, would do good for the organizations.

Written by Sarah Jackson. Interview produced by Ashley Mak. Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.