James Loeb (; ; August 6, 1867 – May 27, 1933) was an American

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

Hellenist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient ...

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

James Loeb was the second born son of

Solomon Loeb Solomon Loeb (June 29, 1828 – December 12, 1903) was a German-born American banker and businessman. He was a merchant in textiles and later a banker with Kuhn, Loeb & Co. Biography His father, a devout Jew, had been a small corn- and wine-de ...

and Betty Loeb. He joined his father at Kuhn, Loeb & Co. in 1888 and was made partner in 1894, but he retired from the bank in 1901 due to severe illnesses. In memory of his former lecturer and friend

Charles Eliot Norton Charles Eliot Norton (November 16, 1827 – October 21, 1908) was an American author, social critic, and Harvard professor of art based in New England. He was a progressive social reformer and a liberal activist whom many of his contemporaries c ...

, in 1907 Loeb created The Charles Eliot Norton Memorial Lectureship. In 1911, he founded and endowed the

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and L ...

. He assembled a team of Anglo-American classicists to oversee the series, and arranged for publication through

Heinemann (publisher) William Heinemann Ltd., with the imprint Heinemann, was a London publisher founded in 1890 by William Heinemann. Their first published book, 1890's ''The Bondman'', was a huge success in the United Kingdom and launched the company. He was joined ...

in London When James Loeb died, he bequeathed the Loeb Classical Library and funds to Harvard University to establish The Loeb Classical Library Foundation and to and to support research in the classics. He founded the Institute of Musical Art, which later became part of the

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

. That year he also turned over his collection of Arretine pottery to the

Fogg Art Museum The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

at Harvard. He donated a large amount of funds to what is now called the

Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry The Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry (german: Max-Planck-Institut für Psychiatrie) is a scientific institute based in the city of Munich in Germany specializing in psychiatry. Currently directed by Elisabeth Binder and Alon Chen, it is one of ...

, which helped his former psychiatrist

Emil Kraepelin Emil Wilhelm Georg Magnus Kraepelin (; ; 15 February 1856 – 7 October 1926) was a German psychiatrist. H. J. Eysenck's ''Encyclopedia of Psychology'' identifies him as the founder of modern scientific psychiatry, psychopharmacology and psychi ...

to establish and maintain the Institute in its early days. Nevertheless, presumably unknown to Loeb, Kraepelin held racist views about Jews, and his student who took over the Institute,

Ernst Rudin Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975- ...

, was a leading advocate of

racial hygiene The term racial hygiene was used to describe an approach to eugenics in the early 20th century, which found its most extensive implementation in Nazi Germany (Nazi eugenics). It was marked by efforts to avoid miscegenation, analogous to an animal ...

and forced sterilization or killing of psychiatric inpatients for which he was personally honoured by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

.Science and Inhumanity: The Kaiser-Wilhelm/Max Planck Society
William E. Seidelman MD, 2001Who's Who in Nazi Germany
Robert S. Wistrich, Routledge, July 4, 2013 A large portion of his significant art collection he left to the Museum Antiker Kleinkunst in Munich (today the

Staatliche Antikensammlungen The Staatliche Antikensammlungen (, ''State Collections of Antiquities'') is a museum in Munich's Kunstareal holding Bavaria's collections of antiquities from Greece, Etruria and Rome, though the sculpture collection is located in the opposite Gly ...

) ("Sammlung James Loeb"). He was a member of the English Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies.

Translations

* Paul Delcharme, ''Euripides and the Spirit of His Dreams'' * Maurice Croiset, ''Aristophanes and the Political Parties at Athens'' * Auguste Couat, ''Alexandrian Poetry under the First Three Ptolemies, 324-222 B.C.''

References

External links

*
Loeb Family Tree
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loeb, James 1867 births 1933 deaths American bankers American people of German-Jewish descent American philanthropists German bankers Jews and Judaism in Cincinnati Jewish American philanthropists Loeb family American translators Staatliche Antikensammlungen Harvard College alumni

Biography

Translations

References

Further reading

External links