Estate of Richard McDermott, Sr. Makes Generous Donation to the Institute for Financial Literacy's Library of Personal Finance

Online, December 16, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The Institute for Financial Literacy (www.FinancialLit.org), a nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization whose mission is to promote effective financial education and counseling, announced today that the estate of the late Richard McDermott, Sr. recently bequeathed a large portion of his personal library of assorted finance-related materials to the Institute's Library of Personal Finance™. Included in the donation are valuable soft- and hard-cover books, reference guides, manuals, personal notes and a variety of documents dealing with stocks, bonds, securities, commodities and the "inner workings" of Wall Street.

Mr. McDermott, a native of Portland, ME and graduate of Cheverus High School and Boston College, passed away on Sept. 2, 2011 at the age of 83.

"We are extremely fortunate to have such a valuable collection donated to our library," said Leslie E. Linfield, Executive Director and Founder of the Institute for Financial Literacy. "We cannot thank Mr. McDermott's family enough for their generosity. This is truly a major acquisition, one of the largest in the history of the library."

A leading member of, and influence on, the Boston financial scene for over 40 years, Mr. McDermott was also considered by many of his peers as a giant of the Wall Street community. He began his long career in the Boston office of Merrill Lynch & Co., now the world's largest brokerage firm, in 1952. After joining Paine Webber as a stockbroker in 1957, he quickly established himself as a top producer. While there, he was part of a team that evaluated the viability of The Walt Disney Company developing a theme park near Orlando, Fla. (Disney World).

In 1962, Mr. McDermott became a director of Wolf & Co., in Boston, the first company to use the pioneering Whirlwind computer to track space satellites. In 1979, he sold Systematic Data to Grumman aviation, which is now Northrop Grumman Corp., and as a vice president of F.L. Putnam Securities Co., in Wellesley, Mass., he achieved the firm's highest sales volume in 1980-81.

Mr. McDermott was also a co-owner of Precision Records, which featured many great jazz recording artists, including trumpeter John B. "Dizzy" Gillespie, a founder of the bebop movement in jazz. Late in his career, Mr. McDermott purchased financial publisher John Magee, Inc. There, he put great pride into publishing and editing the sixth edition of the classic Technical Analysis of Stock Trends by Edwards and Magee.

"Our father was a terrific human being with a great sense of humor and grace," said his daughter, Colleen McDermott Shue, and son, Jon McDermott. "Over the years, he helped many young companies get their initial rounds of financing, and one of his greatest joys was sharing his knowledge of the investment business by training new Wall Street talent and educating his clients about the stock market."

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About the Library of Personal Finance
Established by the Institute for Financial Literacy in 2005, and housed in South Portland, Maine, the mission of the Library of Personal Finance is to preserve the accumulated knowledge of consumer financial products, services and education by maintaining a physical collection of materials related to these fields. For more information, please call 207-221-3663.