Last Days of Lehman: The Kindness of Strangers 
By LYNN GRAY
Published: September 14, 2009

EARLY in the morning, a year ago today, I received an e-mail message at home from Lehman 
Brothers announcing its plans to file for bankruptcy. The message noted that Lehman would still 
be "open for business" that day.

So I headed toward the office at 745 Seventh Avenue. The television cameras and reporters were 
already there. I stopped to get my coffee from the street vendor and he asked how I was doing. I 
started to cry. I told him to keep the change from a $20 bill because I knew that if Lehman was 
gone he would suffer as well. I walked toward the entrance and a young woman I had never seen 
before said, "Another Lehmanite!" -- and we walked arm-in-arm into the building. Many of us 
had been together for more than 10 years and were scared of being cast adrift.

We had all seen it coming, but still didn't understand how our chief executive, Dick Fuld, 
could have let this happen. We were the firm with the culture that everyone envied. Yes, it had 
been a wild ride the previous couple of years, and especially the previous six months. We had 
had so many heads of fixed income that it was almost a joke when another e-mail message came 
around that another fixed income head had left to "pursue other interests" or "to spend more 
time with his family."

We used the rest of the day to pack our boxes. Finally, in the late afternoon, I walked out of 
the building. I headed to a local bar to drown my sorrows and ponder the future of my career. 
Around West 51st Street, a homeless man approached me with a cup, gesturing for a contribution. 
He then looked at my tote bag with its Lehman Brothers logo and said, "Never mind" and "I'm 
sorry."

-- LYNN GRAY, the chief executive of Campus Scout and a former senior vice president at Lehman 

在雷曼的最后日子
王毅 译

一年前的今天，一大早我就从家里收到公司电邮，告知公司即将宣告破产，但当天仍得开门营业。于是我照常
去位于第七大道745号的雷曼兄弟总部上班。

门口早已聚集着电视台的记者。在路边摊买咖啡的时候，小贩问我"今天还好吗"，这句简单的寒暄让我抑制不
住心头的难过而开始哭泣。我塞给他一张20块钱的票子，让他不用找了——我知道雷曼倒闭之后他的生意也会
跟着遭殃。走近公司大门，一位素未谋面的女士冲我说了一句："你也是雷曼的吧"，于是我们俩手挽着手走进
了大楼。我与许多同事已共事十年以上，此刻都在为即将各自飘零的前程而忧心忡忡。

虽然我们目睹了公司冰消瓦解的全过程，但依然无法理解为什么首席执行官福尔德会把公司带到这一步——曾
几何时，外人还在羡慕我们雷曼的公司文化啊！的确，近几年来，尤其是最近六个月以来，公司仿佛坐上了过
山车：比如固定收益部门的主管如走马灯般轮换，以至于当一位又一位主管以"另谋高就"或者"回归家庭"之类
冠冕堂皇的说辞离职的消息传来时，大家已经把它当作笑话看待了。

这一天我们净在收拾东西准备走人。熬到傍晚，我终于走出了大楼，准备去附近的小酒吧借酒消愁，好好考虑
一下自己下一步怎么办。转过西51街街角时，一个流浪汉拿着个杯子过来乞讨，但他搂了一眼我手提袋上的雷
曼兄弟标志，嘟囔了一声："算了。。。真对不起！"

Lynn Gray曾在雷曼兄弟担任高级副总裁。她现任校园童子军（Campus Scout）的首席执行官。