Marc Eugene Meyer (1842–1925) was an American businessman and was president 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 ...

in the United States.

Biography

Meyer was born to a Jewish family, the son of Sephora (née Loeb) and Isaac Meyer, in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, France. His father was a rabbi and was a member of Strasbourg's civilian government; his grandfather Jacob, also a rabbi, was appointed by

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

to the Congress of Jewish Notables to help delineate the legal status of

French Jews The history of the Jews in France deals with Jews and Jewish communities in France since at least the Early Middle Ages. France was a centre of Jewish learning in the Middle Ages, but Persecution of Jews, persecution increased over time, includ ...

. His brother-in-law,

Zadoc Kahn Zadoc Kahn (18 February 1839 in Mommenheim, Alsace – 8 December 1905 in Paris) was an Alsatian-French rabbi and chief rabbi of France. Life In 1856 he entered the rabbinical school of Metz, finishing his theological studies at the same ...

, was the Grand Rabbi of France. After his father's death in 1859, 17-year-old Meyer left Strasbourg and emigrated to California. French financier Alexandre Lazard of

recommended him to his cousin , (then Lazard's representative in San Francisco), securing Meyer work as a stock boy under

Simon Lazard Simon Lazard (April 8, 1828 – February 24, 1898) was a Franco-American banker who co-founded Lazard Frères & Co., reorganized in 2000 as Lazard. A native of Lorraine, France, a young merchant of antebellum New Orleans, pioneer of the Californi ...

. (The Lazards, Weills, Kahns, and Meyers, all French Jews, had frequently intermarried.) In 1860, he was hired as a bookkeeper at the Los Angeles store of Solomon Lazard (Simon Lazard's cousin) and

Maurice Kremer Maurice Kremer (1824–1907) was an American businessman and civil servant. Biography Kremer, who was Jewish, was born in Lorraine, France on January 18, 1824. He immigrated to the United States first to Memphis, Tennessee, then followed the Ca ...

on Bell's Row. In 1864, he secured a job at the firm for his cousin

Leon Loeb Leon Loeb (1845–1911) was a French-born American businessman who owned and operated the first department store in Los Angeles. He was a member of the Newmark family through marriage. Biography Leon (Leopold) Loeb, was born to a Jewish family ...

. In 1874, Meyer bought out Lazard's interest in the store (Kremer had previously sold his interest to Lazard), partnering with his brother, Constant Meyer, and Nathan Kahn (Cahn) renaming it ''Eugene Meyer & Company.'' He rebranded it as The City of Paris (not to be confused with the similarly named store in San Francisco) which would grow to be the largest and most elaborate department store in the Southwest. In 1884, he sold the store and moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, 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 List of Ca ...

, where he replaced Alexandre Weill as president of Lazard Frères, which was then one of the three "Houses of Lazard" (the other two being the Lazard operations in France and England). After the

Panic of 1893 The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the political realignment of 1896 and the pres ...

(partly brought about by the passing of the

Sherman Silver Purchase Act The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was a United States federal law enacted on July 14, 1890.Charles Ramsdell Lingley, ''Since the Civil War'', first edition: New York, The Century Co., 1920, ix–635 p., . Re-issued: Plain Label Books, unknown date, ...

of 1890), Meyer was reassigned to New York City to oversee Lazard's investments, and was seminal in persuading J.P. Morgan and many European investors not to liquidate their holdings. The act was soon repealed and the crisis resolved.

Personal life

In 1867, he married Harriet Newmark, daughter of rabbi Joseph Newmark (Harriet's sister Caroline had married Solomon Lazard) and sister of Myer J. Newmark; they had five daughters and three sons. His son, Eugene Isaac Meyer, married Agnes Ernst. His daughter, Rosalie, married Sigmund Stern, the nephew of

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 Francisco ...

and son of

David Stern David Joel Stern (September 22, 1942 – January 1, 2020) was an American lawyer and business executive who was the commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1984 to 2014. Stern oversaw NBA basketball's growth into one of ...

; and his daughter, Elise, married Sigmund's brother Abraham Stern. (Elise was later widowed and remarried Brazilian ambassador

Luiz Martins de Souza Dantas Luiz Martins de Souza Dantas (17 February 1876 – 14 April 1954) was a Brazilian diplomat who was awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations by the Supreme Court of Israel in June 2003, for his actions during World War II in helping Jew ...

in 1933 who saved more than 400 people helping 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). His daughter,

Florence Meyer Blumenthal Florence Meyer Blumenthal (1875–1930) was an American philanthropist who founded the ''Fondation franco-américaine Florence Blumenthal (Franco-American Florence Blumenthal Foundation),'' which awarded the Prix Blumenthal from 1919-1954 to paint ...

, married George Blumenthal. His son, Edgar Joseph Meyer (married to Leila Saks, the daughter of

Andrew Saks Andrew Saks (June 5, 1847 – April 8, 1912) was an American businessman known as the founder of department store Saks Fifth Avenue. Biography Saks was born to a German Jewish family, in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Helena and William Sak ...

), perished in the sinking of the ''

RMS Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...

''. His daughter Aline Meyer, married Charles Joseph Liebmann, the son of brewer

Henry Liebmann Henry Liebmann (December 6, 1836 – March 27, 1915) was a German-born American brewer and president of S. Liebmann Brewery (later Rheingold Breweries) in Brooklyn, New York. The brewery's main brand, ''Rheingold Extra Dry'', was one of the mos ...

and grandson of

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 granddaughters were

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 ...

and Florence Meyer (daughters of his son Eugene Isaac). His great-grandson was

Walter A. Haas Jr. Walter A. Haas Jr. (January 24, 1916 – September 20, 1995) was President and CEO (1958–1976) and Chairman (1970–1981) of Levi Strauss & Co, succeeding his father Walter A. Haas (1889–1979). He led the company in its growth from a region ...

(grandson of his daughter Rosalie), who served as president of Levi Strauss & Co.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Marc Eugene 1842 births 1925 deaths American Jews Alsatian Jews American people of French-Jewish descent American financial businesspeople Newmark family American businesspeople in retailing