Investment Broker

William Kalellis, 92, a retired investment broker and community activist, died of complications from kidney disease Thursday at his home in Haddonfield. In 1953, Mr. Kalellis was appointed manager of the Camden branch of Wurts, Dulles & Co., which after a series of mergers became the brokerage firm Janney Montgomery Scott. Wurts, Dulles was the first member of the New York Stock Exchange to open an office in South Jersey. Mr. Kalellis retired from Janney in 1991 as a senior vice president and also served as chairman of the New Jersey Securities Advisory Committee.

Louis A. Cochet, 49, an investment broker who played for a University of Pennsylvania freshman basketball team that went undefeated, died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Cochet, who played his high school ball for Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., was a member of the 1968-69 Quakers freshman team that went 21-0. It was the first college team coached by Digger Phelps, who went on to coach at Notre Dame and is now a color analyst for ESPN.

Charles L. Barndt, 88, of East Coventry Township, who had a long career as an investment broker with several Philadelphia firms, died Thursday at Manatawny Manor, a nursing facility in East Coventry. He had been a resident of the center for two days. Mr. Barndt had been active until recently at the investment firm Newbolds & Sons Co., working primarily from his home in East Coventry, Chester County, where he had lived since 1950. He joined the firm in the early 1970s, and had served as managing director.

E. Robert Thomas Jr., 88, a retired investment broker and a champion bridge player, died of Alzheimer's disease Saturday at his home in Haverford. Mr. Thomas was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Penn Charter School. He attended Princeton University. During World War II, Mr. Thomas served as an officer commanding an artillery battalion in Fiji. He became an investment broker, and for most of his 63-year career, he worked for Legg Mason Wood Walker. In the 1950s and '60s, Mr. Thomas also worked in the oil and natural-gas business as president of Cobra Petroleum.

Joseph A. McNamee, 94, of Roslyn, Montgomery County, a retired investment broker, died Tuesday at the Roslyn Nursing Home. He began his investment-banking career in 1921 with West & Co. in Philadelphia and retired in 1982 as an investment broker with Hopper Soliday & Co., both based in Philadelphia. Born in Philadelphia, Mr. McNamee attended Roman Catholic High School and was a Roslyn resident since 1980. In Philadelphia, he was a member of Holy Child Roman Catholic Church for many years and was a longtime member of the Central Philadelphia YMCA, where he was a champion handball player.

A former morning disc jockey at WYSP-FM radio yesterday filed a $2 million lawsuit against a Montgomery County investment broker who allegedly defrauded him of his life savings "through manipulation, domination and control. " Jeffrey Newfield, who now lives in Canada, contended in papers filed yesterday in U.S. District Court that investment broker Bruce O'Brien urged him to invest all his money, including his paychecks, real estate profits and savings in stocks that O'Brien had chosen.

James L. Blocker, 66, of Mount Airy, a former stockbroker and bank official who helped form a golf club so he could join, died of congestive heart failure Wednesday at Abington Memorial Hospital. Born in Greenwood, S.C., Mr. Blocker was a 1955 graduate of Pennsylvania State University, where he played baseball and basketball. He also studied at the University of Pennsylvania and the New York Institute of Finance. After graduation, he became an investment broker at the former Philadelphia firms of Gerstley, Sunstein & Co. and Amott, Baker & Co. Mr. Blocker, who often went by the name J. Lester Blocker, was one of the earliest African Americans registered as an investment broker in Philadelphia, his family said.

Angelo C. Faragalli, who is seeking the Republican nomination in the 149th Legislative District, said he would work to lower business taxes to bolster the local economy if he were elected. Faragalli, a business consultant who worked for 20 years as an investment broker at Paine Webber, announced his candicacy last week. He is one of four Republicans seeking the nomination for the state House seat that represents Upper Merion, West Conshohocken and about half of Lower Merion. "State government needs people with business backgrounds to find ways to improve the business climate throughout the state," Faragalli said.

Three months after the murder, the killer of Center City socialite Peter Stickney Anderson remains at large, so the Gay and Lesbian Community Center yesterday offered a $1,000 reward to help solve the case. "We're hoping the lure of a reward will bring forward a witness," said Michael LoFurno, co-chairman of the community center's board of directors. Anderson's nude, stabbed and sexually mutilated body was found May 5 in a green trash barrel along the westbound Pennsylvania Turnpike in Lancaster County.

The wife of socialite murder victim Peter Stickney Anderson yesterday said it was impossible to imagine why anyone would have wanted to kill her estranged husband. "Why?" she asked rhetorically as she sat in the back yard of her Main Line home. "He was such a gentleman. " Anderson, 54, of Center City, was identified Wednesday as the man whose nude body was found May 5 stabbed "multiple times" in the abdomen and dumped in a trash can along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Lancaster County.

William Kalellis, 92, a retired investment broker and community activist, died of complications from kidney disease Thursday at his home in Haddonfield. In 1953, Mr. Kalellis was appointed manager of the Camden branch of Wurts, Dulles & Co., which after a series of mergers became the brokerage firm Janney Montgomery Scott. Wurts, Dulles was the first member of the New York Stock Exchange to open an office in South Jersey. Mr. Kalellis retired from Janney in 1991 as a senior vice president and also served as chairman of the New Jersey Securities Advisory Committee.

Joseph A. McNamee, 94, of Roslyn, Montgomery County, a retired investment broker, died Tuesday at the Roslyn Nursing Home. He began his investment-banking career in 1921 with West & Co. in Philadelphia and retired in 1982 as an investment broker with Hopper Soliday & Co., both based in Philadelphia. Born in Philadelphia, Mr. McNamee attended Roman Catholic High School and was a Roslyn resident since 1980. In Philadelphia, he was a member of Holy Child Roman Catholic Church for many years and was a longtime member of the Central Philadelphia YMCA, where he was a champion handball player.

E. Robert Thomas Jr., 88, a retired investment broker and a champion bridge player, died of Alzheimer's disease Saturday at his home in Haverford. Mr. Thomas was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Penn Charter School. He attended Princeton University. During World War II, Mr. Thomas served as an officer commanding an artillery battalion in Fiji. He became an investment broker, and for most of his 63-year career, he worked for Legg Mason Wood Walker. In the 1950s and '60s, Mr. Thomas also worked in the oil and natural-gas business as president of Cobra Petroleum.

Louis A. Cochet, 49, an investment broker who played for a University of Pennsylvania freshman basketball team that went undefeated, died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Cochet, who played his high school ball for Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., was a member of the 1968-69 Quakers freshman team that went 21-0. It was the first college team coached by Digger Phelps, who went on to coach at Notre Dame and is now a color analyst for ESPN.

James L. Blocker, 66, of Mount Airy, a former stockbroker and bank official who helped form a golf club so he could join, died of congestive heart failure Wednesday at Abington Memorial Hospital. Born in Greenwood, S.C., Mr. Blocker was a 1955 graduate of Pennsylvania State University, where he played baseball and basketball. He also studied at the University of Pennsylvania and the New York Institute of Finance. After graduation, he became an investment broker at the former Philadelphia firms of Gerstley, Sunstein & Co. and Amott, Baker & Co. Mr. Blocker, who often went by the name J. Lester Blocker, was one of the earliest African Americans registered as an investment broker in Philadelphia, his family said.

The water and sewer authority has dismissed an investment broker who was granted immunity for his assistance in secretly taping conversations with Anthony Cipullo, the former Bristol Township mayor indicted last month on more than two dozen corruption-related charges. The Lower Bucks County Joint Municipal Authority voted, 5-0, Monday to remove Eric Vacca as financial consultant. Vacca could not be reached for comment. A former board unanimously appointed him in 1994 to a four-year term on the recommendation of Cipullo.

Former Philadelphia investment broker Michael G. Cohen once bet his and clients' money on Daikoku, the Japanese god of wealth. But this god wasn't good to him. Cohen was sentenced last week to 21 months in prison for defrauding about two dozen clients of $471,441. U.S. District Judge Clifford Scott Green also ordered Cohen, who has no assets, to try to make restitution.Cohen, 49, of Center City, admitted using some client funds to support himself. But most of the money went to cover up early losses and conceal from clients his "disastrous investment choices," his lawyers told the judge.

Friends of John, as in City Council President John F. Street, forked over $10,000 apiece for a dinner gathering Wednesday night at a Center City jazz club and restaurant. About 25 people, mostly out-of-towners with collegiate and other ties to Philadelphia lawyer Ronald A. White, attended the affair at Zanzibar Blue on South 11th Street, radio talk-show host Mary Mason said yesterday. Mason, who was there, said only a handful of the diners were locals - herself, White, lawyer Carl E. Singley and businessman Bruce Crawley.

Stitching together elements of its own business and borrowing threads from others, Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse has developed a chain of specialty stores aimed entirely at children. And the third of the stores - known as Totally 4 Kids - opens today at the Plaza at Cherry Hill on Route 38. It weaves discounted and regularly priced children's and baby's apparel, toys and books, and juvenile and baby furniture and equipment into a 44,070- square-foot facility. Children can play with the toys, listen to a storyteller, or ride bicycles in the aisles.