“Goldman Sachs Group Inc. stockbroker Alfred Feld is blunt about the state of his Rolodex,” writes Susanne Craig in today’s Wall Street Journal.

” ‘Everyone in there is pretty much dead,’ he says, gently placing the rusted metal contraption, circa 1948, back on the corner of his desk.”

“If nothing else, it took a sense of humor for Mr. Feld to reach a rare milestone on Wall Street — 70 years at one firm. And now, at 88 years old and showing few signs of slowing, he is worried that he might outlive his remaining 40 or so clients. ‘I don’t plan to retire,’ he says. ‘Can we change the topic?’ “

“One of Wall Street’s oldest active brokers, Mr. Feld long ago surpassed the previous Goldman record of 56 years at the firm set by former Chairman John Whitehead. Mr. Feld tries to stay fit by working out each Tuesday afternoon with a personal trainer in Goldman’s private gym, clad in firm-issued blue shorts and gray shirt.”

” ‘I see a lot of out-of-shape people here, and they would have a real hard time keeping up with him,’ says Sean Begley, the trainer. ‘The first time I worked out with Al, he complained I didn’t do a good enough job working him because he wasn’t sore the next day.’ “

“Mr. Feld, a widower and divorce, works four days a week, as he has since the age of 76, watching his stocks closely, conferring with clients and lunching in the same seat in the Goldman cafeteria. His reduced schedule gives him time to play golf and bridge and dine most nights with a 79-year-old ‘lady friend’ whom he declines to identify. She is ‘a real looker,’ Mr. Feld says. Through a Goldman spokeswoman, he adds, ‘I am very protective of her, and she’s not doing interviews.’ “

“He gets up at 6:30 a.m. — a half-hour later than he used to, but with just enough margin to make the hour-and-a-half train commute from his home in New Jersey and arrive at work before the stock market opens. Remarkably in a weak job market, he has had to fend off attempts by Goldman rivals to hire him away. A few months ago, he says, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. made him an offer. Citigroup declines to comment.”

“The stocks he favors for clients — many are the children of his original customers — are nearly the same as those he once monitored for Walter Sachs, the son of Goldman’s co-founder. They include blue chips such as Merck & Co., General Electric Co., Coca-Cola Co. and Kellogg Co. He recently cooled on Sears, Roebuck & Co., which Goldman took public in 1906 and is a former favorite of Mr. Sachs’s. Mr. Feld says Sears has lost its edge to competitors such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which he likes. A Sears spokesman says, ‘There is a lot going on at Sears that we hope the broker would find as a reason to put us back on the recommended list for the second half of his career.’ “