Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Schiff, Jacob Henry

SCHIFF, JACOB HENRY, an American financier and philanthropist, born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, in 1847. He was educated in the schools of Frankfort-on-the-Main, and in 1865 he moved to the United States, where, after having achieved success in the banking business, he organized the firm of Kuhn,

Loeb &amp; Co., which became one of the most important financial institutions in the United States and financed many important enterprises, especially the construction of railroads. Mr. Schiff later became a director of many large financial and industrial companies. His work as a philanthropist was done chiefly in connection with Jewish organizations, but

he also gave liberally to other causes. He was vice-president and trustee of the Baron de Hirsch Fund, a director of the New York Foundation, of the National Employment Exchange, and a vice-president of the New York Chamber of Commerce. He was the founder of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York; and of the Semitic Museum at Harvard. He also contributed $100,000 for a Technical College at Hafia, Palestine. He was actively concerned with the improvement of civic conditions in New York, and was a leading member of the &ldquo;Committee of 70,&rdquo; which secured the overthrow of the Tweed Ring. He did much toward the development of Jewish enterprises in Palestine and other countries. He died in 1920.



JACOB H. SCHIFF