Harry Nicholas Pritzker (August 1, 1892 – August 1956) was an American businessman and member of the

Pritzker family The Pritzker family is an American family engaged in entrepreneurship and philanthropy, and one of the wealthiest families in the United States of America (staying in the top 10 of ''Forbes'' magazine's "America's Richest Families" list since the ...

Early life and education

Harry was the son of

Ukrainian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Some of the most important Jewish religious and ...

immigrants Annie P. (née Cohn) and Nicholas J. Pritzker. His father left Kyiv for Chicago in 1881 and worked first as a pharmacist and, after graduating from

DePaul University College of Law The DePaul University College of Law is the professional graduate law school of DePaul University in Chicago. The College of Law’s facilities encompass nine floors across two buildings, with features such as the Vincent G. Rinn Law Library and ...

, as a lawyer.CNN Money: "THE PRITZKERS UNVEILING A PRIVATE FAMILY" By Ford S. Worthy
April 25, 1988 His father wrote a small book that has been passed down from Pritzker to Pritzker; the theme of the book is "Your only immortality is the impact you have on your successors."

Career

Harry joined his father's law firm, ''Pritzker & Pritzker'', along with his brothers,

Abram Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...

and

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

. Harry specialized in criminal law, Abram (called Abe and later A. N.) specialized in business law, and Jack in real estate law.New York Times: "HOW THEY DEAL AND MULTIPLY" By Marylin Bender
February 26, 1984 In the 1930s, he supported his brothers who left the firm and invested in real estate and small companies mostly in the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

area. Harry continued to run the law firm ''Pritzker & Pritzker'' which eventually became an in-house firm catering solely to the needs of the Pritzker family and its business. The Pritzker brothers were very successful and amassed a considerable fortune. Using ''Pritzker & Pritzker'', they shielded their earnings from taxes through a series of trusts and tax code loopholes enabling them to distribute their earnings as they chose. His brother Abram's sons continued to grow the family business eventually buying the Hyatt House hotel in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

in 1957 forming the cornerstone of their hotel chain. His nephew Robert created a conglomerate of a multitude of manufacturing companies which grew into the multibillion-dollar

Marmon Group Marmon Group is an American industrial holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois; founded by Jay Pritzker and Robert Pritzker in 1953 (as Colson Corporation), it has been held by the Berkshire Hathaway group since 2013. It owns compani ...

. Marmon was diversified to include manufacturing concerns ranging from lumber to railroad box cars and travel industry staples. It composed half of the family's wealth. On December 25, 2007, it was announced that Warren Buffett, through

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from which it invests the float (the retained premiu ...

, would purchase 60% of the Marmon Group from the Pritzkers for $4.5 billion.

Personal life

Pritzker was married to Elna Stone; they had two children: Richard S. Pritzker (born 1944) and Joanne Pritzker (1946–1955). His son Richard is a real estate investor in California and had previously worked as head counsel at the Hyatt Corporation.Equinox Hotels: Our team
retrieved July 21, 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pritzker, Harry Nicholas 1892 births 1956 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople

Harry Nicholas Sir Herbert Richard Nicholas OBE (13 March 1905 – 15 April 1997) was a trade unionist and political organiser. Early life Born in Bristol, Nicholas worked for the Port of Bristol Authority until 1936, when he took a full-time post in the T ...

American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American Jews