Louis Stern

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Louis Stern (born February 22, 1847 in Ziegenhain , † June 20, 1922 in Paris ) was a German- American entrepreneur , one of New York's most important businessmen and politician .

Life

As a six year old wandered star in 1853 with his parents - his father Meyer A. Stern was a jeweler in modest circumstances, his mother was the over 58-year-old already widowed in 1880 Sophia Rosenstock (1822 ??) - in the United States after Albany (New York) , where the father pursued his profession as a jeweler and watchmaker and son Louis attended both the public school and then the college (Academy). While the brothers Isaac, Benard and Benjamin stayed in his father's company as apprentices, Louis was sent to an uncle in Petersburg (Virginia) for commercial training .

After completing his apprenticeship, Stern moved to New York and wanted to set up a company together with all of his brothers, who were now traveling watchmakers. After all, he founded the company "Stern Brother's" only with brother Isaac in March 1867 in the New York borough of Manhattan on Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) at the corner of 22nd Street. The company became so successful that it had to be expanded after just one year. The brothers Bernard and Benjamin later also got into the business, which Isaac Stern ran until autumn 1910; his deputy was Louis. After Isaac's retirement, Louis took over the management in November 1910, which he held until his death. The department store was relocated to 42nd Street in 1913 , between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. The company had now become a large department store that offered a wide range of clothing, furniture, housewares and beauty products. The company became better known under the short name "Stern's". The company later became part of the Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s groups .

The rise of 42nd Street was due not only to the construction of this department store, but also to Stern's activity as president of the Fourty-second Street Property Owners and Merchants' Association, Inc. "

In Germany, in 1895, Stern became the focus of the Louis Stern affair , which had an anti-Semitic background.

After a serious heart operation on May 8th at Mount Sinai Hospital , which had weakened him, Stern went on a four-month private visit with his daughter Beatrice in June 1922 on board the RMS " Homeric ", a ship of the White Star Line . and convalescence trip to Europe, where he arrived in Paris on June 11th. While he was still there at the “ Hôtel Claridge ”, he died unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 75 in the presence of his son-in-law Leo von Graffenried . Initially, the body remained in the crypt of the American Church in Paris (Rue George V.), but was transferred to New York in the fall and buried on September 17, 1922 in the family mausoleum in the Jewish "Salem Fields Cemetery" in Brooklyn .

Stern lived with his family in his country house in Tarrytown on the east bank of the Hudson River and in the townhouse at 993 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

Stern married Lisette Strupp in Germany on July 30, 1879 (* 1858 near Frankfurt am Main; † November 26, 1905 in Frankfurt am Main). She died after a short illness on a home vacation. The couple had the daughters Irma (married von Graffenried ) and Beatrice as well as the two sons Melville A. and Louis jun. (on Louis jun. see Louis Stern affair ).

Politician

Stern was a member of the Republican Party and was politically active in town and country. So he was, completely surprising for himself, nominated in 1897 for the Manhattan borough as a candidate for the office of "Borough President", but lost this election. In 1904 he was a substitute delegate for New York at the Republican National Convention .

US President William McKinley appointed him commissioner for the 1900 World's Fair in Paris . France later made him a Knight of the Legion of Honor . Then in 1904 he was chairman of the Executive Committee of the New York State Commission for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition .

Memberships

Stern was a member of numerous organizations and clubs, including a. in the German “Liederkranz”, the Metropolitan Museum of Art , the National Museum of Natural History , the “Aldine Association”, the American Geographical Society , the “Albany Society” and the New York Chamber of Commerce . Since 1903 he was also a member of the British-American " Pilgrims Society " founded in 1902 . In 1905 he became a director of the Equitable Life Assurance Society. He was also a member of the distinguished "Lotos Club" founded in 1870 and the "Patria Club". He was president of the "Republican Club" ( Metropolitan Republican Club ).

He was director of the "Lincoln Trust Company", the " Atlantic Mutual Life Insurance Company " (since 1910) and the "Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York", the "Bank of New Amsterdam", the "Madison Safe Deposit Company of New" York "and the" New Amsterdam Safe Deposit Company of New York ". He was also President of the Librabry Square Realty Company.

He was also involved in Jewish matters, was a sponsor for over thirty years, finally ten years president and the last four years until his death an honorary member of the "Hebrew Benevolant and Orphan Asylum". He was widely considered a benefactor and philanthropist.

Orders and decorations

See also

literature

Countless lexical entries "Stern, Louis" , etc. a. in:

  • John William Leonard, Albert Nelson Marquis: Who's who in America , 1903, 1415
  • John William Leonard, Who's Who in Finance and Banking (1922), 50
  • James Terry White: The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1967), 551
  • Alexander Hopkins McDannald: The Encyclopedia Americana (1941), 630
  • Biographical Directory of the State of New York , 1900, 466
  • Who is Who in Insurance , Ed .: Singer Company, New York 1908, p. 300
  • Albom 'Ivri. The Hebrew Album of Prominent Israelites of America , 1905, p. 21
  • Moses Jacob Ezekiel, Joseph Gutmann, Stanley F. Chyet: Memoirs from the Baths of Diocletian , 1975, p. 485 ( excerpt )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Date of birth according to jewishencyclopedia.com and other sources.
  2. ↑ Date of death according to the New York Times on September 18, 1922 . Lt. NYT of June 23, 1922, he is said to have died on Wednesday of the same week; that would have been June 21st. According to the family history of the von Graffenried family (Thomas Pritchett de Graffenried: History of the de Graffenried family from 1191 AD to 1925 , page 48), he is said to have died on June 22nd, which is definitely wrong.
  3. ^ New York, 1880 Federal Census (1880 census); at that time the widowed mother lived in the house of her son Louis.
  4. ↑ He died just a few weeks later on December 5, 1910. - Source: New York Times, December 5, 1910
  5. ↑ New York Times, November 27, 1913
  6. ^ New York Times of August 6, 1895 and New York Times of August 7, 1895
  7. ↑ a b New York Times, June 23, 1922
  8. ^ New York Times, September 18, 1922
  9. ^ New York Times, November 28, 1905
  10. ↑ see: Administrative Division of New York City
  11. ^ New York Times, October 3, 1900
  12. ↑ Charles Savoie: PILGRIMS. The mysterious, super-elite Pilgrim Society. , May 2005 ( Memento from October 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Stern, Louis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH February 22, 1847
PLACE OF BIRTH Goat grove
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1922
Place of death Paris