Alfred Schiffer Bloomingdale (April 15, 1916 – August 23, 1982) was an heir to the Bloomingdale's department store fortune, "father of the credit card", and the lover of murdered mistress Vicki Morgan. Early life and education Bloomingdale was born to a wealthy Jewish family on April 15, 1916 in New York City, the son of Rosalind (née Schiffer) and Hiram Bloomingdale, and the grandson of Lyman G. Bloomingdale, a co-founder of the famous department store Bloomingdales. Bloomingdale attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he was a member of the football team as well as Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Upsilon chapter). Career After school, he worked as a salesman at Bloomingdale's but after three years he left to work as a theatrical agent where he represented Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland. He tried his hand at producing Broadway shows and movies but was not very successful. In 1946, he moved to Los Angeles where he worked as an executive at Columbia Pictures. To facilitate the need of his wealthy friends who liked to patronize New York city's upscale restaurants following a night at the theater, Bloomingdale launched a credit card business called "Dine and Sign" that meant people on a night out no longer needed to carry large sums of cash. In 1951, he merged his company with Diners Club and joined the rapidly growing business as an executive, becoming chairman of the board of directors in 1964. In 1969, he left Diners Club, acquiring its "International Floatels" division. Personal life In 1946, Bloomingdale married Betty Lee "Betsy" Newling, a practicing Roman Catholic, movie starlet and daughter of Dr. Russell Lee Newling (who was a Beverly Hills-based physician born in Adelaide, South Australia). Alfred and Betsy Bloomingdale had three children: Geoffrey Bloomingdale (born 1950), married to Elizabeth Fahr in 1972; Lisa Bloomingdale Bell (born 1951), married to R. McKim Bell in 1974; and Robert Russell Bloomingdale (born 1954), married to Justine Hayward Schmidt in 1979. Bloomingdale and his wife Betsy were friends and confidantes of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. In 1981 Reagan, following his election to the U.S. presidency, appointed Bloomingdale to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and the following year named him a member of the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. Although born to a Jewish family, Bloomingdale became a Catholic to marry Betsy, and later became a member of the Knights of Malta. The