Felix Moritz Warburg (January 14, 1871October 20, 1937) was a German-born American banker. He was a member of the Warburg banking family of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

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 betwee ...

Early life

Warburg was born in

, Germany, on January 14, 1871. He was a grandson of Moses Marcus Warburg, one of the founders of the bank, M. M. Warburg (in 1798) and son of Moritz and Charlotte Esther Oppenheim Warburg. Felix's first job at age 16 was in Hamburg, Germany, with N.M. Oppenheim & Co. Felix Warburg was a partner in Kuhn, Loeb & Co.

Career

Warburg was a

presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia app ...

in the 1908 U.S. presidential election. Warburg was an important leader of the

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, also known as Joint or JDC, is a Jewish relief organization based in New York City. Since 1914 the organisation has supported Jewish people living in Israel and throughout the world. The organization i ...

, established to help the

Jews 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 ...

in Europe in the period leading up to, and especially during, the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Warburg actively raised funds in the United States on behalf of European Jews who faced hunger following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. As early as 1919, he was quoted in ''

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 ...

'' discussing the dire situation of Jewish war sufferers. Warburg served as the founder and first president of the

American Friends of the Hebrew University American Friends of the Hebrew University (AFHU) is a non-profit organization headquartered in New York City which promotes and supports the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. American businessman and philanthropist Felix M. Warburg founded AFHU in J ...

, which supports the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, Mandate Palestine, in 1925. Warburg and the Joint Distribution Committee were also instrumental in the 1930s after the global Great Depression following the crash of the New York stock exchange in 1929. More interested in his charitable work than banking, after Hitler seized power, Felix gave money to help aid Jews flee Germany. Before he died, Warburg gave $10,000,000 to Jewish causes around the world. John L. Spivak claimed General

Smedley Butler Major general (United States), Major General Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881June 21, 1940), nicknamed the "Maverick Marine", was a senior United States Marine Corps Officer (armed forces), officer who fought in the Philippine–American ...

had named Warburg before Congress as part of the

Business Plot The Business Plot (also called the Wall Street Putsch and The White House Putsch) was an alleged political conspiracy in 1933, in the United States to overthrow the government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and install Smedley Butler as d ...

.Archer, p. x ''(Foreword)''Schmidt, p. 229

Personal life

He married Frieda Schiff (1876–1958), daughter of

Jacob Henry Schiff Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Isla ...

(1847–1920) and Therese Loeb Schiff, on March 19, 1895, in New York. They had four sons and one daughter: * Frederick Marcus Warburg (1897–1973), married to Wilma L. Shannon * Gerald Felix Warburg (c.1902–1971), married first to Marion Bab and then to Natica Nast, the daughter of

Condé Montrose Nast Condé is a French place name and personal name. It is ultimately derived from a Celtic word, "Condate", meaning "confluence" (of two rivers) - from which was derived the Romanised form "Condatum", in use during the Roman period, and thence to t ...

* Paul Felix Warburg * Edward Mortimer Morris Warburg (1908-1992), married to Mary Warburg * Carola Warburg Rothschild (1896–1987), married to Walter N. Rothschild, son of

Simon F. Rothschild Simon Frank Rothschild (June 14, 1861 – January 5, 1936) was an American merchant and philanthropist who served as president and chairman of the board at Abraham & Straus. Biography Rothschild was born on June 14, 1861, in Eufaula, Alabama, t ...

, chairman of the board of

Abraham & Straus Abraham & Straus, commonly shortened to A&S, was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, it became part of Federated Department Stores in 1929. Shortly after Federated's 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company ...

, and founder of the

Federated Department Stores Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito ...

Her daughter, Carol Warburg Rothschild, is the mother of

Peter A. Bradford Peter A. Bradford is a former member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission who teaches energy policy and law at the Vermont Law School. He is the author of ''Fragile Structures: A Story of Oil Refineries, National Security and the Coast of Ma ...

and grandmother of

Arthur Bradford Arthur Houston Bradford (born November 19, 1969) is an American writer and filmmaker. He has published two books of short stories, ''Dogwalker'' (2001) and ''Turtleface and Beyond'' (2015), and a children's book, ''Benny's Brigade'' (2012). He h ...

. All of their children were active in community service. He died on October 20, 1937 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 ...

. He was buried in

Salem Fields Cemetery Salem Fields Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery located at 775 Jamaica Avenue in the Cypress Hills neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, United States, within the Cemetery Belt. It was founded in 1852 by Temple Emanu-el. Salem Fields is the final ...

in Brooklyn.

Legacy

As a result of his philanthropic activities, a new

Jew 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""T ...

ish village established in

Mandate Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...

in 1939,

Kfar Warburg Kfar Warburg ( he, כְּפַר וַרְבּוּרְג, ''lit.'' Warburg Village) is a large moshav in south-central Israel. Located near Kiryat Malakhi with 98 farms covering an area of 6,000 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Be'er Tuvi ...

, was named after him. He was a trustee of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. The

Felix M. Warburg House The Felix M. Warburg House is a mansion located on 1109 Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The house was built from 1907 to 1908 for the German-American Jewish financier Felix M. Warburg and his ...

, in New York's Upper East side was donated by his widow and today houses the

Jewish Museum A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area. List of Jewish museums Notable Jewish museums include: *Albania ** Solomon Museum, Berat *Australia ** Jewish Mu ...

References

External links

M.M. Warburg & Co.
* *

Archives and records

Felix M. Warburg papers
at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School. {{DEFAULTSORT:Warburg, Felix 1871 births 1937 deaths Businesspeople from Hamburg Jewish American bankers American philanthropists German bankers German emigrants to the United States 19th-century German Jews German philanthropists Jewish American philanthropists Loeb family Felix 1908 United States presidential electors Burials at Salem Fields Cemetery