UP FROM EAST BOSTON: The Man Who Was Friend to Politicians

Into the public eye last week swam a wealthy, aggressive Bostonian whose fortune brought friends, and whose friends brought him unexpected fame. His name: Bernard Goldfine, 67, textile and real estate tycoon.

Up from Steerage. In the spring of 1897, Bernard, then 7½, landed with his mother from the old Rotterdam's steer age to take up residence in the tenement slums of East Boston. Bright little Bernie skipped every other grade at Lyman Grammar School, put in a year at Mechanic Arts High School before a brother's death made him pick up a bread winner's load in his close, protective...

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