Benjamin Buttenwieser

Benjamin Joseph Buttenwieser (October 22, 1900 – December 31, 1991) was an American banker, philanthropist and civic leader in New York.

Background

Buttenwieser was born to a Jewish family. His father was Joseph L. Buttenwieser. He had an older brother, Lawrence B. Buttenwieser. His family were "our crowd," the top 100 German-Jewish families of New York City.

He entered Columbia College at age 15 and graduated in 1919.

Career

In 1919, Buttenwieser joined the Kuhn, Loeb & Co. banking house, and from 1932–49 was general partner. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy (from 1942–45). Buttenwieser, who was fluent in German, was Assistant United States High Commissioner in Occupied Germany for political and economic reconstruction, 1949-51. He was also director of many companies, including Revlon; Benrus Watch; Tischman Realty and others. From 1952, he was a limited partner until 1977, when Kuhn, Loeb & Co. merged with Lehman Brothers.

In 1938, Buttenwieser a two-year term as president of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York (now United Jewish Appeal-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York), like his father (1920s) and brother (1970s). He also served on the executive committee of the American Jewish Committee. He was a trustee of Lenox Hill Hospital and the New York Philharmonic. He was a governor of th
Investment Bankers Association

Awards

* 1967: Alexander Hamilton Medal (Columbia College, Association of Alumni)
* 1976: Honorary Doctorate (Columbia University)

Legacy

The Buttenwieser Professorship at Columbia University was established in 1958 with a gift to the University from Buttenwieser, a longtime University Trustee and clerk of the Trustees, in honor of his father, Joseph.

Personal and death

In 1929, Buttenwieser married Helen Lehman, the daughter of Arthur Lehman, then senior partner at Lehman Brothers. She was one of the first women admitted to the City Bar Association of New York and in 1979, became the first chairwoman of the Legal Aid Society. The couple had four children: a daughter, Carol Helen Buttenwieser Loeb (1933–55), who died at the age of 22, and three sons, Lawrence B. Buttenwieser, Peter L. Buttenwieser, and Paul A. Buttenwieser.

As Helen L. Buttenwieser, she was an attorney for Alger Hiss. The couple's activism landed Benjamin Buttenwieser on the master list of Nixon political opponents.

He died age 91 of a heart attack on December 31, 1991, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

See also

* Helen Lehman Buttenwieser
* Kuhn, Loeb & Co.
* Lehman Brothers

Further reading

* Williams, Iain Cameron. ''The KAHNS of Fifth Avenue'', iwp publishing, February 17, 2022, - chapters 16 & 17

References

External sources

*Trimel, Suzanne (September 9, 1996)
Social Scientist Charles Tilly Joins Columbia Faculty.
*''The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia'', 1940, volume 2, p. 610.
*English, Bella (July 29, 1999)

''The Boston Globe''
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20170403034334/http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch00005 Harvard Law School Buttenwieser, Helen L.. Papers of Helen L. Buttenwieser, 1909-1990

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buttenwieser, Benjamin
1900 births
1991 deaths
Columbia College (New York) alumni
Businesspeople from New York City
Jewish American bankers
Jewish American philanthropists
20th-century American businesspeople
Lehman family
Activists from New York City
Philanthropists from New York (state)
Charles H. Revson Foundation
Truman administration personnel
American people of German-Jewish descent