Robert M. Bishop

Former New York Stock Exchange executive Robert Bishop, 85, whose work as a regulator helped maintain the integrity of the securities markets during difficult decades of growth and change, passed away on May 10, 2007 in Summit, NJ, from complications of Parkinson's disease.
Robert Milton Bishop was born on June 5, 1921 in Elmira, New York and gre up there. His parents were Milton Wilcox Bishop and Florence Elizabeth (Crofutt) Bishop.
Bob was Editor of the school newspaper at Elmira Free Academy, "Scout reporter" for the Elmira Star-Gazette at the 1937 Jamboree in Washington, and a cub reporter for the Star-Gazette during his summer vacations.
Enrolling at Union College in 1939, was the campus stringer for the Schenectady Union-Star, Albany Times-Union, and the New York Times, and he worked in the College's public relations office.
Sunday outings with his parents to watch the gliders fly from Harris Hill, "the Soaring Capital of America" near Elmira, led to an early interest in aviation. His attempt to join Navy pilot training the week after Pearl Harbor was rejected, but seven weeks after the Japanese attack, he began the Army Air Forces light plane training program at an airport in Schenectady.
When he graduated from Union with the accelerated Class of 1943W, he received the College's Daggett Prize as "the senior of the best character and conduct." He then joined the Army Air Force as an Aviation Cadet.
Sent to a college training detachment at Peabody College in Nashville, Tenn., he met Anne Selene Rowan, a Peabody student from Nashville, at a USO dance. They were married on October 30, 1943, while Cadet Bishop was in pre-flight training at Maxwell Field in Montgomery, Alabama.
He received his wings and commission in June 1944. at Columbus Field, Mississippi.
He remained in the Eastern Flying Training Command as a twin-engine instructor pilot. He was one of the initial cadre of advanced instruments flying instructors, led by Captain Paul Stoney, who taught pilots to use the "full panel" instruments system, increasing the safety and survival when they flew hazardous routes (flying "over the hump" from India to China, for instance)or in adverse weather. He taught French as well as American cadets.
After a year as an instructor pilot, he joined the training pipeline to fly the Douglas B-26 "Invader" in the Pacific, but the war ended before he was deployed.
Returning to Union College, he became Assistant Director of Public Relations. In 1948 the President of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, Keith Funston, named hime Trinity's Director of Public Relations. he made a lasting contribution to the culture of Hartford by establishing the summer carillon concerts, open to the public, on the College's quadrangle.
Keith Funston became President of the New York Stock Exchange in 1951. In 1955 he asked Bob Bishop to join the professional staff of the Stock Exchange as his Special Assistant. The Bishops now ith four children moved from Connecticut to Fanwood, New Jersey. He also lived in Westfield for 20 years and Scotch Plains for 10 years.
From the time he was named Director of Member Liason in 1963, he advanced to senior management at the NYSE in the areas of member firms regulationa dn surveillance. Early initiatives were to formalize the qualification of registered representatives through examiniations and to establish procedures to discipline those who violated Exchange rules.
Wall Street was hit by two major crisis on November 22, 1963. A member firm of the Exchange, Ira Haupt and Company, had been suspended when it was fatally entangled in the infamous "salad oil scandal," holding worthless commodities receipts for empty tanks of vegetable oil. Word of President Kennedy's assassination hit the markets that afternoon.
President Funston worked the crisis caused by the assassination. Bishop and his staff focused Ira Haupt, aiming to insure that its 20, 000 clients, uninvolved in the fraud, did not lose the funds and securities being held for them by the firm. Over a stressful weekend, the Exchange hammered out a liquidation package, pledging $12 million in the Exchange's money.
Wall Street firms faced many difficulties in the 1960's and 1970's, especially from the new competitive pressures set in motion by the end of fixed commission rates on stock and bond trades. As the NYSE's chief of regulation, he enforced capital requirements and other measures to assure the integrity of the securities markets. He frequently testified before the Securities and Exchange Commission on the self regulation of the securities markets.
When he retired in 1986, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Regulatory Officer of the Exchange. In his history of the stock market in the 60's and 70's, Alec Benn said his "efforts to preserve the New York Stock Exchange have never been fully appreciated."
In retirement, Mr. Bishop joined the International Executive Service Corps. Joined by his wife Anne, he went on missions to advise stock exchanges in Bulgaria, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Hungary, Morocco, Paistan, Serbia, Siberia, Singapore, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Uganda. His "Model Rules for a Stock Exchange" were widely adopted.
He served as an alumni trustee of Union College and he was active in community organizations in Westfield and Scotch Plains, NJ and Avon Park, Florida.
His wife Anne passed away in 2002. He is survived by his six children - Donald Bishop of Vienna, Virginia; Anne Selene Bennett of Woodstock, Conn. Elizabeth Speed of Charlotte, North Carolina; Robert M. Bishop, Jr. of st Johnsbury, Vermont; Regina Bergeland of NYC; and Rowan J.S. Bishop of Portland, Maine. He will also be deeply missed by his nine grandchildren and four great grandchildren.