Adopted Man Reunites with Three Biological Brothers in New York

Alex Blum, 71, met his three biological brothers for the first time last week at a midtown Manhattan bistro. The men, who range in age from 63 to 71, shared a meal and discussed family matters during the gathering. Blum was given up for adoption in 1955 after his mother, Lee Hart, became pregnant at age 20 following an affair with a married man named John Stanton.

A couple named John and Nancy Blum adopted him and raised him on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Hart later married Stanton and had three sons:

Hank, born in 1957; Pete, born in 1959; and Bill, born in 1961. Stanton worked as a global executive for a soft drink company before his death in 1967. Hart raised the three boys as a single mother in Darien, Connecticut. Hart had told her younger sons that their older brother died at birth. The brothers said they had always questioned that account.

Blum joined the genealogy platform 23andMe about a dozen years ago. Five years later, he received a message from a woman named Brook who shared 20 percent of his DNA. She turned out to be the daughter of his youngest brother, Pete. Blum has written about the experience in his new book "An Accident of Birth: A Story of Adoption and Identity," published by UnCollected Press.

The book includes first-person accounts from all four brothers. Blum said he treasures a handwritten note he believes his birth mother wrote for him. The note discusses fear of a code and failing someone who needs help. The brothers now hold regular Zoom calls and plan to meet in person again within the next year.