David Stern (1820–1875) was a German-born American businessman who helped to found Levi Strauss & Co. with his brother-in-law

Levi Strauss Levi Strauss (; born Löb Strauß ; February 26, 1829 – September 26, 1902) was a German-born American businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans. His firm of Levi Strauss & Co. (Levi's) began in 1853 in San Francisc ...

Biography

David Stern was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in Bavaria in 1820. In the 1840s, he immigrated to the United States first to New York then the American South and finally to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

in 1853 or 1855 where he was later joined by his brother-in-law

. Strauss had been sent to San Francisco - which was booming due to the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New ...

- to scout out a larger location for the family merchandising company. In 1858, he was listed as a co-owner of the company under the name ''Strauss, Levi (David Stern & Lewis Strauss) importers clothing'' in the San Francisco Directory where Stern served as its manager and Strauss as its sales manager. In 1860, the company was renamed as Levi Strauss & Co. In 1873, the company received the patent for its jeans, the first to use metal rivets on workpants made with denim cloth.

Personal life

In 1850, he married Fanny Strauss, the sister of

in New York. They had 8 children: Jacob and Caroline (both born in New York); and Henry, Sigmund, Louis, Harriet "Hattie", Abraham, and Lillian (all born in San Francisco). He was a member of the Eureka Benevolent Society (later the Jewish Family Service) and Congregation Emanu-El. Two of his sons married sisters, the daughters of

Lazard Frères Lazard Ltd (formerly known as Lazard Frères & Co.) is a financial advisory and asset management firm that engages in investment banking, asset management and other financial services, primarily with institutional clients. It is the world's ...

head

Marc Eugene Meyer Marc Eugene Meyer (1842–1925) was an American businessman and was president of Lazard Frères in the United States. Biography Meyer was born to a Jewish family, the son of Sephora (née Loeb) and Isaac Meyer, in Strasbourg, France. His father w ...

: his son, Sigmund Stern, married Rosalie Meyer; and his son Abraham Stern, married, Elise Meyer. Sigmund's only child, Elise, married Walter A. Haas, the son of

Abraham Haas Abraham Haas (1847–August 8, 1921) was an American businessman, co-founder of the Hellman, Haas & Co. (which became Smart & Final), and patriarch of the Haas family. Biography Haas was born to a Jewish family in Reckendorf, Kingdom of Bavar ...

, whose descendants are the current owners of Levi Strauss & Co. David Stern died in 1875 in San Francisco. The company incorporated in 1890 with Levi Strauss as president, Jacob Stern as First Vice President, Sigmund Stern as Second Vice President, Louis Stern as Treasurer, and Abraham Stern as Secretary. After the death of Levi Strauss in 1902 - who had no children - Stern's sons took over ownership of the company. The

Sigmund Stern Recreation Grove Sigmund Stern Recreation Grove, locally called Stern Grove, is a recreational site in the Sunset District, San Francisco, California. It is administered by the city's Recreation and Parks Department and is the concert setting for the Stern Grove ...

is named for his son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, David 1820 births 1875 deaths 19th-century German Jews Bavarian emigrants to the United States Businesspeople from San Francisco 19th-century American businesspeople