Samuel Adolph Lewisohn (March 21, 1884 – March 13, 1951) was an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

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 ...

art collector A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

, and non-fiction author.James Karman, ''The Collected Letters of Robinson Jeffers, with Selected Letters of Una Jeffers: Volume Two, 1931–1939,'' Stanford University Press, 12 okt. 2011. He is also known as first president of the

American Management Association The American Management Association (AMA) is an American non-profit educational membership organization for the promotion of management, based in New York City. Besides its headquarters there, it has local head offices throughout the world. It o ...

.
Sam A. Lewisohn, 1884-1951
' Stamford, Conn. : The Overbrook Press. 1951.William Lazonick. ''American Corporate Economy: Critical Perspectives on Business and Management, Volume 2.'' Taylor & Francis, 2002. p. 316

Biography

Youth, education and early career

Lewisohn was born 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 ...

in 1884, the son of

Adolph Lewisohn Adolph Lewisohn (May 27, 1849 – August 17, 1938) was a German Jewish immigrant born in Hamburg who became a New York City investment banker, mining magnate, and philanthropist. He is the namesake of Lewisohn Hall (which formerly housed the Schoo ...

and Emma Cahn Lewisohn. After attending the

Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School ("Columbia Grammar", "Columbia Prep", "CGPS", "Columbia") is the oldest nonsectarian independent school in New York City, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan (5 West 93rd Street). The school serves gr ...

, he graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1904 and from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

in 1907. His father is of

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 ...

background. After his graduation in 1907, Lewisohn started working for the New York law firm

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is an international white shoe law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm specializes in litigation and corporate practices, particularly mergers and acquisitions, with over 1,000 attorneys in 11 offices worl ...

. In 1910 he joined his father's law firm Adolph Lewisohn & Sons, where he kept serving as lawyer. In

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served as District Superintendent at the Bureau of War Risk Insurance in 1918-19.

Later career and honours

During his further career Lewisohn served in many positions. He was

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

and Member of Executive Committee of the

Citizens Union Citizens Union is a New York City-based good government group founded in 1897 to combat the influences of the Tammany Hall political machine. J. Pierpont Morgan, Benjamin Altman, Elihu Root, and Carl Schurz numbered among its 165 founders. In 198 ...

from 1918 to 1931. In the President's Conference on unemployment of 1921 he served in as member of Economic Advisory Commission. In 1923 he was one of the founders of the

, and served as its first president from 1924 to 1927. He was succeeded by

Frank L. Sweetser Frank Loel Sweetser (June 2, 1873 – December 17, 1953) was an American pioneer management consultant, business executive, and organizational theorist. He was general manager of the Dutchess Manufacturing Company, and served as president of the Am ...

. Lewisohn became a member of 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 ...

in 1927; Director of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, where he served as director until his death; member of the

New York State Commission of Correction The New York State Commission of Correction is "empowered to visit and inspect all penal institutions and to promote humane and efficient administration of these institutions." It's a part of the New York State Executive Department.Correction Law � ...

in 1928, and many other functions in the industry, government, and cultural industry. Lewisohn's career as editor and nonfiction writer took off in 1907, when he had started as editor of the ''

Columbia Law Review The ''Columbia Law Review'' is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. The journal publishes scholarly articles, essays, and student notes. It was established in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan and John M. Woolsey, who se ...

.'' He published some articles in the early 1920s, and published his first main work in 1926, entitled ''The New Leadership in Industry.'' This work was translated into French, German, and Japanese.

Art collecting

Lewisohn was a major art collector and 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 ...

. Upon his death, a number of important modern art works were donated to the Met, including works by

Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , , ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as Divisionism, chromoluminarism and pointillism and used Conté, conté crayon for drawings on pa ...

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetism, Synthetist style that were d ...

Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...

, Cezanne, Sterne, and

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inclu ...

Family and death

Lewisohn's father

and his brothers, Julius and

Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English language, English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate from the Old High German ''Leonhard'' containing the prefix ''levon'' ("lion") from the Greek wikiwikiweb:Λέων, � ...

, were known as "copper kings" after making their fortune opening copper mines to meet demand for copper wire with the advent of electricity; Adolph Lewisohn was also a leader in prison reform.Jewish Women's Archive: "Adele Lewisohn Lehman 1882–1965" by Laurie Sokol
retrieved October 30, 2015 Lewisson's sister

Adele Lewisohn Lehman Adele Lewisohn Lehman (May 17, 1882 – August 11, 1965) was an American philanthropist and member of the Lehman family. Biography Adele Lewisohn Lehman was born to a Jewish family on May 17, 1882 in New York City, the daughter of Emma (née Cah ...

married

Arthur Lehman Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

(1873–1936), of the

Lehman family The Lehman family is a prominent family of Jewish German-Americans who founded the financial firm Lehman Brothers. Some were also involved in American politics. Members have married into the prominent Morgenthau, Loeb, and Bronfman families. The ...

. In 1918, Lewisohn married Margaret Valentine Seligman (1895–1954), a daughter of

Joseph Seligman Joseph Seligman (November 22, 1819 – April 25, 1880) was an American banker and businessman who founded J. & W. Seligman & Co. He was the patriarch of what became known as the Seligman family in USA and was subsequently related to the wealthy ...

and a "nationally known leader in education." Their third daughter was

Elizabeth Eisenstein Elizabeth Lewisohn Eisenstein (October 11, 1923 – January 31, 2016) was an American historian of the French Revolution and early 19th-century France. She is well known for her work on the history of early printing, writing on the transition in ...

, a notable historian of the French Revolution and early 19th-century France. Lewisohn died in 1951.

Selected publications

* Lewisohn, Sam Adolph, et al. ''Can Business Prevent Unemployment.'' Knopf, 1925. * Lewisohn, Sam Adolph. ''The new leadership in industry.'' New York: EP Dutton, 1926. *

Scott Nearing Scott Nearing (August 6, 1883 – August 24, 1983) was an American radical economist, educator, writer, political activist, pacifist, vegetarian and advocate of simple living. Biography Early years Nearing was born in Morris Run, Tioga County, ...

, Sam Adolph Lewisohn, Malcolm Churchill Rorty, and

Morris Hillquit Morris Hillquit (August 1, 1869 – October 8, 1933) was a founder and leader of the Socialist Party of America and prominent labor lawyer in New York City's Lower East Side. Together with Eugene V. Debs and Congressman Victor L. Berger, Hillqui ...

. ''The Future of Capitalism and Socialism in America.'' New York: League for Industrial Democracy, 1927. * Lewisohn, Sam Adolph. Personalities Past and Present. 1939. * Lewisohn, Sam Adolph. ''Human leadership in industry: the challenge of tomorrow.'' New York and London, 1945. * Lewisohn, Sam Adolph. ''Painters and personality: a collector's view of modern art.'' Harper, 1948. ;Articles, a selection: * Lewisohn, Sam A. "The living wage and the national income." ''Political Science Quarterly'' 38.2 (1923): 219-226. * Lewisohn, Sam A. "New aspects of unemployment insurance." ''Political Science Quarterly'' 50.1 (1935): 1-14. * Lewisohn, Sam A. "Mexican Murals and Diego Rivera." ''Parnassus'' 7.7 (1935): 11-12. * Lewisohn, Sam A. "Psychology in economics." ''Political Science Quarterly'' 53.2 (1938): 233-238.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewisohn, Sam Adolph 1884 births 1951 deaths American art collectors American financiers 20th-century American lawyers American non-fiction writers American philanthropists Princeton University alumni Columbia Law School alumni Simpson Thacher & Bartlett Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School alumni Loeb family Presidents of the American Management Association