Hermann Merkin (born 1907 in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, died March 9, 1999 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) was a German-born American businessman and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

Biography

Merkin's father,

Leib Merkin Leib is a given name and (less often) a surname that are usually of Jewish origin.Leib
Baby Names Pedia Leib often stems from ...

was a successful furrier in native

. In the 1930s Merkin's family fled

to escape

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

persecution and came to New York City in 1940. Soon after coming to the United States, Merkin joined the Army as an intelligence and counterintelligence officer. After the war, he purchased a seat on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

, and founded Merkin & Company, an investment firm. He met and married Ursula Breuer in 1950 in

and had six children (three sons and three daughters); at the time of his death, he had 20 grandchildren. He lived in

Charity work

Merkin was a founder of the

Fifth Avenue Synagogue The Fifth Avenue Synagogue (קהלת עטרת צבי, Congregation Ateret Tsvi) is an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 5 62nd Street (Manhattan), East 62nd Street between Fifth Avenue (Manhattan), Fifth and Madison Avenue (M ...

in the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

near

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

, together with Henry Hirsh. He and his wife Ulla, sponsored the well-known

Merkin Concert Hall Merkin Hall is a 449-seat concert hall in Manhattan, New York City. The hall, named in honor of Hermann and Ursula Merkin, is part of the Kaufman Music Center, a complex that includes the Lucy Moses School, a community arts school, and the Spec ...

and also gave generously to Mount Sinai Hospital,

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universit ...

- sponsoring a chair in memory of his father Leib Merkin and a

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

in memory of his late

father-in-law A parent-in-law is a person who has a legal affinity with another by being the parent of the other's spouse. Many cultures and legal systems impose duties and responsibilities on persons connected by this relationship. A person is a child-in-law ...

Isaac Breuer Isaac Breuer ( he, יצחק ברויאר; 1883–1946) was a rabbi in the German Neo-Orthodoxy movement of his maternal grandfather Samson Raphael Hirsch, and was the first president of Poalei Agudat Yisrael. Biography Isaac Breuer was born in ...

. The school (IBC) or Isaac Breuer College of Hebraic Studies is an undergraduate program at

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universit ...

, where he served on the Board of Trustees for over three decades, even holding the position of chairman for a short time. He also gave generously to and many other

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 ...

charities; the Merkins were particularly interested in furthering Jewish education through philanthropic gifts.

Death

Merkin died at age 91, in

, of

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

. He is the father of noted businessman and philanthropist J. Ezra Merkin and of writer and critic

Daphne Merkin Daphne Miriam Merkin (born in New York City) is an American literary critic, essayist and novelist. Merkin is a graduate of Barnard College and also attended Columbia University's graduate program in English literature. She began her career as ...

External links

Isaac Breuer College of Hebraic Studies (IBC)Yeshiva University

Sources

at the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''
Merkin's obituary
at the ''New York Times'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Merkin, Hermann 1907 births 1999 deaths American financiers American Orthodox Jews Philanthropists from New York (state) Businesspeople from New York City Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States Jewish American philanthropists Businesspeople from Leipzig 20th-century American philanthropists Merkin family