Marc Eugene Meyer
BornJanuary 27, 1842
Strasbourg, France
DiedJanuary 17, 1925 (age 83)
NationalityFrench, American
OccupationBusinessman
Known forPresident of Lazard Frères
SpouseHarriet Newmark
Children8 including Eugene Isaac Meyer and Florence Meyer Blumenthal
Family Joseph Newmark (father-in-law)
Myer J. Newmark (brother-in-law)
Agnes Ernst (daughter-in-law)
George Blumenthal (son-in-law)
Luis Martins de Souza Dantas (son-in-law)
Myer J. Newmark (brother-in-law)
Leon Loeb (cousin)

Marc Eugene Meyer (January 27, 1842–January 17, 1925) was an American businessman and was president of Lazard Frères in the United States. Born in Strasbourg, France, he migrated to California as a teenager, living in San Francisco and Los Angeles until 1893 when he moved to New York City in his role with Lazard. He was awarded the Legion of Honor in 1920.

Early life

Meyer was born to a Jewish family, the son of Sephora (née Loeb) and Isaac Meyer,[1] in Strasbourg, France.[2] 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 to the Congress of Jewish Notables to help delineate the legal status of French Jews.[1][2][3] His brother-in-law, Zadoc Kahn, was the Grand Rabbi of France.[3]

Career

After his father's death in 1859, 17-year-old Meyer left Strasbourg and emigrated to California.[1][3] French financier Alexandre Lazard of Lazard Frères recommended him to his cousin Alexandre Weill [fr], (then Lazard's representative in San Francisco), securing Meyer work as a stock boy under Simon Lazard.[1] (The Lazards, Weills, Kahns, and Meyers, all French Jews, had frequently intermarried.)[3] In 1860, he was hired as a bookkeeper at the Los Angeles store of Solomon Lazard (Simon Lazard's cousin) and Maurice Kremer on Bell's Row.[1][4] In 1864, he secured a job at the firm for his cousin Leon Loeb.[5] In 1874,[6] 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.[6] 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.[1][4] In 1884, he sold the store and moved to San Francisco, where he replaced Alexandre Weill as president of Lazard Frères,[1] 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 (partly brought about by the passing of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act 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.[3]

Meyer retired in 1901.[7] On January 27, 1920—Meyer’s 78th birthday—the French government made him an Officer of the Legion of Honor.[7]

Personal life and death

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.[1] His son, Eugene Isaac Meyer, married Agnes Ernst. His daughter, Rosalie, married Sigmund Stern, the nephew of Levi Strauss and son of David Stern; and his daughter, Elise, married Sigmund's brother Abraham Stern.[3][8] (Elise was later widowed and remarried Brazilian ambassador Luiz Martins de Souza Dantas in 1933 who saved more than 400 people helping to escape Nazi persecution).[9] His daughter, Florence Meyer Blumenthal, married George Blumenthal. His son, Edgar Joseph Meyer (married to Leila Saks, the daughter of Andrew Saks), perished in the sinking of the RMS Titanic.[10] His daughter Aline Meyer, married Charles Joseph Liebmann, the son of brewer Henry Liebmann and grandson of Samuel Liebmann.[11] His granddaughters were Katharine Graham and Florence Meyer (daughters of his son Eugene Isaac). His great-grandson was Walter A. Haas Jr. (grandson of his daughter Rosalie), who served as president of Levi Strauss & Co.

Meyer died on January 17, 1925, at his home at 135 Central Park West, Manhattan.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Carol Felsenthal (4 January 2011). Power, Privilege and the Post: The Katharine Graham Story. Seven Stories Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 978-1-60980-290-5.
  2. ^ a b Green, David B. (October 31, 2016). "This Day in Jewish History 1875: Rabbinical Scion Who Made the Washington Post Great Is Born". Haaretz.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Davis, Deborah (2017-12-07). Katharine the Great: Katharine Graham and Her Washington Post Empire. Graymalkin Media. ISBN 9781631681578.
  4. ^ a b "Solomon Lazard: Major Jewish Pioneer of Early Los Angeles' Infrastructure". Jewish Museum of the American West. Retrieved 7 Sep 2018.
  5. ^ Pawlak, Debra Ann (January 12, 2012). Bringing Up Oscar: The Story of the Men and Women Who Founded the Academy. Pegasus Books (reprint edition). ISBN 9781453226186.
  6. ^ a b "Dissolution of S(olomon) Lazard & Co. And sale to Eugene Meyer". Los Angeles Evening Express. 3 March 1874. p. 3.
  7. ^ a b c "Eugene Meyer died in his 83rd year". Buffalo Jewish Review. 1925-01-23. p. 17. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  8. ^ "Ptomaines Kill Abraham Stern - Physicians Unable to Save Life of Prominent Business Man of This City". San Francisco Call Volume 111, Number 46. January 15, 1912.
  9. ^ Magee, David (1973). Infinite Riches: The Adventures of a Rare Book Dealer. New York: Paul S. Eriksson, Inc. p. 42. ISBN 9780839735533.
  10. ^ Zottolir, Maureen (June 23, 2016). The R.M.S. Titanic and Washington, D. C.: One Hundred Years: 1912 to 2012 - People, Government Process and Precedent, Investigations, and Locations. AuthorHouse. p. 103. ISBN 9781468543711.
  11. ^ Hoffmann, Rolf. Jewish Genealogy in Southern German Research Fragmants - Leibmann family.
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