On This Day In Alabama History: Mervyn Sterne Was Born In Anniston

Alabama News Center | August 2, 2017 @ 5:00 am

By Graydon Rust
Alabama 200

August 2, 1892: Financial adviser Mervyn H. Sterne was born in Anniston. Sterne advised businesses and government entities for more than 50 years while encouraging them to pay their “civic rent.” He served in both world wars, raised funds for Jews after each, and was an active member on Birmingham’s Interracial Committee that desegregated elevators in the city’s office buildings. In the 1920s, Sterne led efforts to finance the state’s schools by promoting a property tax and using his company to bid on road construction bonds to ensure local governments received a fair price. Sterne was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor and the Alabama Business Hall of Fame.

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