Nathan Straus
Nathan Straus (born January 31, 1848 in Otterberg , Palatinate ; † January 11, 1931 in New York City ) was a German-American businessman and philanthropist who ran the two department stores Macy’s and Abraham & Straus in New York . In the later years of his life he donated a large part of his fortune to the Zionist colonization project in what was then Ottoman Palestine , where the city of Netanya was named after him.
Life
Nathan Straus was the third of four children of Lazarus Straus (1809–1898) and his wife Sara (1823–1876). His siblings were Hermine Straus Kohns (1846–1922), Isidor Straus (1845–1912) and Oscar Solomon Straus (1850–1926). The family emigrated to the United States in 1854, where they settled in Georgia . After the American Civil War , the family moved to New York, where Lazarus Straus founded L. Straus & Sons , a dinnerware and glass factory.
On April 28, 1875, Straus married Lina Gutherz (1854–1930), with whom he had six children, including Nathan Straus Jr. (1889–1961), who later became a senator in New York State, and Sissie Straus , who was New Yorker Chief Judge Irving Lehman (1876–1945) married.
Straus and his brothers sold dinnerware and cutlery to the RH Macy & Company department store . In 1888 she became a partner in the department store and finally a partner in 1896. In 1893 Nathan and Isidor Straus bought Joseph Wechsler's shares from the Abraham and Wechsler department store in Brooklyn , which they renamed Abraham & Straus .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Straus, Nathan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-American businessman and philanthropist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 31, 1848 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Otterberg , Palatinate |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 11, 1931 |
| Place of death | New York City |