George Blumenthal (April 7, 1858 – June 26, 1941) was a German-born banker who served as the head of the U.S branch 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 ...

Early life

Blumenthal was born in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

in 1858 to Hermann Blumenthal and Helene Hickel.

Career

Blumenthal a foreign-exchange banker was sent to the United States by Speyer & Co., and rose to prominence as the head of the U.S branch of

. He was also a partner of Lazard Frères in France. He retired from Lazard in 1901, giving up his seat on the stock exchange, and returned as a partner in 1906. He returned to the stock exchange in 1916, purchasing a seat for $63,000 (equivalent to $ today). With

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...

the elder, he was one of five bankers who saved

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

from giving up specie payments in 1896, with their $65,000,000 gold loans.

Philanthropy

In New York, he served as president of the Mount Sinai Hospital, where he donated $2 million and where the Blumenthal auditorium is named after him. He was a trustee of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

for many years as well as president of the

American Hospital of Paris The American Hospital of Paris (''Hôpital américain de Paris''), founded in 1906, is a private, not-for-profit hospital that is certified under the French healthcare system. Located in Neuilly-sur-Seine, in the western suburbs of Paris, Franc ...

. He served as the seventh president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1934 until his death in 1941, where he gave $1 million and to which he bequeathed the Patio from the Castle of Vélez Blanco, a colonnaded Spanish Renaissance patio. After his death, he was succeeded by

William Church Osborn William Church Osborn (December 21, 1862 – January 3, 1951) was the son of a prominent New York City family who served in a variety of civic roles including president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, president of the Children's Aid Society, a ...

. His niece,

Katharine Graham Katharine Meyer Graham (June 16, 1917 – July 17, 2001) was an American newspaper publisher. She led her family's newspaper, ''The Washington Post'', from 1963 to 1991. Graham presided over the paper as it reported on the Watergate scandal, whi ...

, in her memoir ''

Personal History ''Personal History'' is the 1997 autobiography of ''Washington Post'' publisher Katharine Graham. It won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, and received widespread critical acclaim for its candour in dealing with her husba ...

'', described her uncle as a "difficult man with a big ego". He and Florence also named the Blumenthal Rare Book and Manuscript Library, which contains rare and illustrated books, manuscripts, Haggadot, as a resource for scholarly research.

Personal life

In 1898, Blumenthal was married to Florence Meyer (1873–1930), a daughter of

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 ...

and sister of Eugene Isaac Meyer. Together, they were the parents of one son, who died young, George Blumenthal Jr. (1899–1906). After the death of his first wife Florence in 1930, the then 77 year old George married Marion "Mary" (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Payne) Clews (1890–1973) in December 1935. Mary, a descendant of Sir Robert Payne (one of the first settlers of Virginia), was the second wife, and widow, of banker James Blanchard Clews, a nephew of

Henry Clews Henry Clews (August 14, 1834 – January 31, 1923) was a British-American financier and author. Early life Clews was born on August 14, 1834, in Staffordshire, England.Ingham, John N. "Clews, Henry." 'Biographical Dictionary of American Business ...

. Blumenthal died at his home in New York City on June 26, 1941. His estate was valued in excess of $8,000,000 (equivalent to $ today). After his death, his widow remarried to Brig. Gen. Ralph Kenyon Robertson in 1943. After his death, she married Baron Carl von Wrangell-Rokassowsky in 1969, becoming the Countess von Wrangell.

Legacy

George and his second wife endowed the George and Marion Blumenthal Research Scholarships awarded annually for demonstrated merit in community arts leadership by the Roski School of Fine Arts at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

References

External links

The George and Florence Blumenthal home
at 50 East Seventieth Street in New York, 1920s, a fully digitized picture album from

The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 F ...

Libraries {{DEFAULTSORT:Blumenthal, George 1858 births 1941 deaths American bankers People from the Free City of Frankfurt German emigrants to the United States Trust Company of America people Presidents of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Newmark family