Adolph P. Schuman (1902–1985) was a prominent San Francisco businessman. He was the founder and president of the

Lilli Ann Lilli Ann was a clothing company that was started in San Francisco, California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it ...

apparel company, and a longtime Democratic Party campaign contributor who had close ties to

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

and

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

. His father was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant who came to America in the 1880s, was a diamond broker in San Francisco. Adolph started a wholesale women's clothing company in 1933 in two rented rooms with an $800 loan from his friend Rudy Schucci who drove a milk truck. In 1982, Lilli Ann reported retail sales of $20 million. After World War II, Schuman opened a Lilli Ann showroom in Paris and promoted his line by organizing a “San Francisco to Paris Fashion Show”, with lavish runway productions in both cities which brought him into personal contact with such leading Paris fashion designers as

Coco Chanel Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel ( , ; 19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a French fashion designer and businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post-World War I era with popularizing a sporty, c ...

and

Cristóbal Balenciaga , birth_name = Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre , birth_date = , birth_place = Getaria, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Xàbia, Spain , resting_place = Getaria Cemetery , education = , label_name = Balenciaga , ...

. At the same time, Schuman's purchase of huge quantities of European fabrics helped revitalize the war-ravaged French and Italian textile industries in the early 1950s."Adolph Schuman Dies at 73; Was Apparel Maker on Coast" ''The New York Times'', October 2, 1985
Census records indicate that Schuman was five years older than stated in this obituary A liberal Democrat, Schuman frequently held campaign fund-raising dinners and parties at his Nob Hill home, and was one of the four wealthy San Francisco Jewish political contributors - the others were Cyril Magnin,

Benjamin Swig Benjamin Harrison Swig (born November 17, 1893 - October 31, 1980) was a real estate developer and a philanthropist active in Jewish and non-Jewish communities. Biography Taunton, Massachusetts-born Benjamin Swig was the son of banker and poli ...

and

Walter Shorenstein Walter H. Shorenstein (February 15, 1915 – June 24, 2010)Dennis McLellan (June 26, 2010)"Walter H. Shorenstein dies at 95; Democratic Party fundraiser and San Francisco real estate mogul" ''Los Angeles Times''. was an American billionaire re ...

- who formed what local Democratic politicians appreciatively called "The Green Machine" of the 1960s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schuman, Adolph 1902 births 1985 deaths American fashion businesspeople American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent American political fundraisers Businesspeople from San Francisco 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American Jews