Henry Liebmann (December 6, 1836 – March 27, 1915) was a German-born American brewer and president of S. Liebmann Brewery (later

Rheingold Breweries Rheingold Brewery was a New York state brewery which sold Rheingold Beer from 1883 to 1976. The brewery held 35% of the state's beer market at its peak. The company was sold by the founding Jewish American Liebmann family in 1963. According t ...

) in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. The brewery's main brand, ''Rheingold Extra Dry'', was one of the most popular beer brands in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in the 1940s to 1960s.

Biography

Heinrich Liebmann 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 Schmiedelfeld in 1836, the son of Dara (née Selz) and

Samuel Liebmann Samuel Liebmann (November 12, 1799 – November 21, 1872) was a German-born American brewer and founder of S. Liebmann Brewery (later Rheingold Breweries) in Brooklyn, New York. Introduced after his death, the main brand ''Rheingold Extra Dry'' ...

. His father was, at the time, the owner of the estate Schloss Schmiedelfeld. In 1840, the family moved to

Ludwigsburg Ludwigsburg (; Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg district with about 88,000 inhabitants. It is s ...

and ran the inn "Zum Stern" and its attached brewery; and where Henry attended secondary school. His father determined to immigrate to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

for political reasons and sent his son, Joseph, in 1850 in advance to procure a home. In 1854, the remainder of the family immigrated, settling in

Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. As of the 2020 United ...

. The family first leased and operated the old Maasche Brewery and later, pooling their resources, built a new brewery in Bushwick named the S. Liebmann Brewery. After the death of his father in 1872, the three sons took over the management of the brewery and incorporated it as S. Liebmann's Sons Brewing Company. The Liebmann brothers alternated with each other as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

each year. Henry was responsible for brewing; Joseph for financial matters; and Charles for management and operations. In 1903, the Liebmann brothers retired and handed over the management of the company to six of their sons. Liebmann died in 1915 in New York City.

Personal life

On June 21, 1819, Liebmann married Emma Dellevie (born June 21, 1849); they had 7 children: *Sara Liebmann (born December 13, 1868), married Morris Heimerdinger *Harriet Liebmann (born April 11, 1870), married Joseph E. Heimerdinger *Samuel Liebmann (born October 11, 1873), married Viola Salomon, 2 sons **Samuel Liebmann Jr. (born August 30, 1907) **William B. Liebmann (born June 17, 1912) *Walter H. Liebmann (born November 19, 1874), married Lulu Waxelbaum, 3 children **Henry Liebmann (born May 29, 1902) **Eleanor Liebmann (born June 5, 1905) **Walter H. Liebmann Jr. (born June 1, 1906) *Charles Joseph Liebmann (born March 13, 1877), married Aline Meyer, 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 ...

, 2 children **Charles J. Liebmann Jr. (born October 30, 1909) **Margaret H. Liebmann (born December 24, 1913) *Edward Liebmann (July 12, 1876 – April 25, 1890) *Kathleen Liebmann (born September 6, 1888), married Milton Jacob Bach

References

''Die Liebmann Brauerei in New York''
retrieved August 15, 2014.
''Find a Grave: Samuel Liebmann''
retrieved August 15, 2014. * * Carl Schlegel
''Schlegel’s American Families of German Ancestry'', S. 236ff.
retrieved August 15, 2014. * Bernhard Purin: ''"My Beer is Rheingold – the dry Beer". Die Liebmanns, Hermann Schülein und Miss Rheingold''. In: Lilian Harlander, Bernhard Purin (Hg.): ''Bier ist der Wein dieses Landes. Jüdische Braugeschichten'', Volk Verlag, München 2016, , S. 207––229.
''The Liebmann Family and the New York Society for Ethical Culture''
retrieved August 15, 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Liebmann, Henry 1836 births 1913 deaths American Jews American brewers German emigrants to the United States Liebmann family 19th-century American businesspeople