After graduating from college, he started his career on Wall Street as an office boy earning $5 a week, and joined the board of his family foundation, the
New York Foundation, later serving as its President from 1937 to 1966. In 1942, Heyman founded the
Public Health Research Institute as an independent not-for-profit research organization affiliated with the
New York City Department of Health. In 1943, New York City mayor
Fiorello LaGuardia and Heyman convened a panel to explore the feasibility of offering pre-paid medical services to New Yorkers of "moderate means." That panel led to the incorporation of the
Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York (HIP) in 1944 as the first health insurance plan for public service workers, utilizing various medical centers throughout the city. More than 2,600 members of the Chefs, Cooks, Pastry Cooks and Assistants Local 89 became the first subscribers to HIP in 1947. Through a merger with
Group Health Incorporated, it became
EmblemHealth in 2006. He retired in 1947 when Lewisohn & Company was dissolved, but he continued to serve on various city boards such as the Board of Health. He served as the Chairman of the Commission on Health Services during the administration of
New York City mayor
Robert F. Wagner Jr. == Philanthropy ==