Jacob Loeb
{{Short description|American businessman}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|image = Jacob M Loeb (1).jpg
|death_date = February 17, 1944 (age 68)
|death_place = Chicago, Illinois
|office = President of the Chicago Board of Education
|order =
|term_start = December 1915
|term_end = June 18, 1917
|predecessor = Michael J. Collins
|successor = Edwin S. Davis
|party =
|occupation=
|spouse =
|children =
}}
Jacob M. Loeb was an American businessman who founded the Eliel & Loeb insurance company, and served as the president of the Chicago Board of Education. He was a public representative of his extended family during a high-profile murder trial of his nephew Richard Albert Loeb. He was also prominently involved in Jewish civic causes.
Private sector career
Loeb served as the president and the chairman of the Eliel & Loeb insurance agency.{{cite web |title=Jacob M. Loeb, Jewish Leader, Is Dead At 68 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113525646/obituary-for-jacob-m-loeb/ |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Chicago Tribune |access-date=26 December 2021 |language=en |date=February 18, 1944}}{{open access}} He founded the company in 1901 with Herman J. Eliel. He retired as president in 1940 in order to assume the role of chairman. One of his sons, Hamilton M. Loeb, succeeded him in the office of president.
Loeb was also involved in real estate.
Chicago Board of Education
Loeb served as a board member of the Chicago Board of Education, serving as its president from 1915 until his ouster in 1917.
=Loeb Rule=
As a board member, in September 1915, Loeb led the passage of the so-called "Loeb Rule", which declared that any teacher that was a member of a trade union or any other unauthorized society would not be hired by the Chicago Board of Education to work in Chicago Public Schools.{{cite web |title=The Courts vs. Teacher Unionism – LAWCHA |url=https://www.lawcha.org/2014/05/23/courts-vs-teacher-unionism-justin-law/#:~:text=Loeb%2C%20the%20Chicago%20Board%20of,in%20the%20schools%20of%20Chicago. |access-date=26 December 2021}} Litigation launched by the Chicago Teachers Federation against the Chicago Board of Education regarding the rule was fought in many courts. In April 1917, the Supreme Court of Illinois upheld the rule.{{cite web |last1=Law |first1=Justin |title=The Courts vs. Teacher Unionism – LAWCHA |url=http://www.lawcha.org/2014/05/23/courts-vs-teacher-unionism-justin-law/ |access-date=5 August 2022 |date=May 23, 2014}}
=Presidency of the board=
In December 1915, Loeb was elected by a vote of the members of the Chicago Board of Education to serve as the board's president.{{cite web |title=DAY'S NEWS CONDENSED |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/668559740 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The Chicago Live Stock World |access-date=1 August 2021 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=7 Dec 1915}} The board reelected him as president for another year in December 1916, with Loeb receiving twelve votes in support of his reelection.{{cite web |title=Loeb Elected; Gets 12 Votes Pledged to Him |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/355106722 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Chicago Tribune |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=6 August 2022 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=December 7, 1916}}
Early in his presidency, Loeb altered the procurement of all fire insurance for school buildings, opening it up to bidding.{{cite web |title=Loeb By Getting Bids Saves Board $1,00 Insurance |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/355163778 |publisher=Chicago Tribune |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=6 August 2022 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=July 6, 1917}}
In a 1917 exposé, The Day Book, accused Loeb's fire insurance company of connecting him with merchants and manufacturers belonging to the Illinois Manufacturers' Association, which had been hostile to the Chicago Teachers Federation.{{cite web |title=How Secret Gov't of Chicago Has Its Grib on Public Schools |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/73736069 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The Day Book (Chicago) |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=5 August 2022 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=20 February 1917}}
On May 31, 1917, the Chicago City Council voted 42–24 to confirm the appointment by Mayor William Hale Thompson of Loeb to an additional five-year term on the Chicago Board of Education. This was seen was a rebuke to Margaret Haley and her Chicago Teachers Federation's attempt to see a more union-friendly board appointed.{{cite web |title=City Confirms 5 Year Term of Jacob M. Loeb |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/355162578 |publisher=Chicago Tribune |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=5 August 2022 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=May 1, 1917}} The city's largest unions all lined in opposition to the confirmation of Loeb's reappointment, even the United Hebrew Trades chapter (who acknowledged in their statement of opposition that Loeb was a fellow Jew).{{cite web |title=Labor Unions Against Jake Loeb's Confirmation |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/77815555 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The Day Book |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=5 August 2022 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=April 30, 1917}} Loeb had been renominated by the Republican mayor despite being a Democrat himself.{{cite web |title=Is Roger Sullivan Joining Hands with Mayor Thompson in Backing Jake Loeb? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/77812587 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The Day Book |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=5 August 2022 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=April 23, 1917}}
On May 22, 1917, Loeb accused Thompson and Frederick Lundin of attempting to extend their political influence to the school system.{{cite web |title=Uncovers Plot to Raid Chicago School System |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/844862482 |publisher=Buffalo Evening |via=Newspapers.com |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=May 23, 1917}} On June 18, 1917, the Chicago Board of Education voted to oust Loeb as president. The school board's attorney disagreed with this action, and Loeb {{cite web |title=Say He Is On Top |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/78262874 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Chicago Tribune |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=6 August 2022 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=June 23, 1917}} This was orchestrated by Mayor Thompson and his allies on the board.{{cite web |title=Old Board Asks Hoyne to Find Out Who's Who |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/354919760 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Chicago Tribune |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=6 August 2022 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=June 26, 1917}} Mayor Thompson also orchestrated the removal of two other individuals from their positions on the Chicago Board of Education, removing Lewis Larson as secretary of the board and Angus Roy Shannon as the board's lawyer. Loeb soon blamed his ouster on the political machine headed by Thompson and Lundin, and asserted that his ouster proved his accusations made the month prior.{{cite web |title=Loeb Cites His Ouster as Proof of His Charges |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/354917456 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Chicago Tribune |via=Newspapers.com |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=June 20, 1917}} This ouster did not come without controversy. On June 22, Cook County State's Attorney Maclay Hoyne argued that these removals had been illegal and that Loeb was still school board president.{{cite web |title=HOYNE WILL ACT MONDAY TO OUST SCHOOL HEADS |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/354917743 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Chicago Tribune |access-date=1 August 2021 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=21 Jun 1917}}{{cite web |title=Hoyne Will Act Monday To Oust School Heads |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/354917743 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Chicago Tribune |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=6 August 2022 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=21 June 1917}} On June 22, 1917, the Chicago City Council voted to refused to recognize the appointment of new school board officers selected by Mayor Thompson. They instead voted to reinstate Loeb and the two other removed officers of the school board. The mayor had attempted had adjourn the meeting before the vote, and left the meeting, but Alderman John A. Richert presided in his absence. The City Council saw a resolutions proposed at the meeting request the mayor's resignation, and another to launch an impeachment inquiry (despite there being no mechanism for the Chicago City Council to impeach a mayor).{{cite web |title=The School Tangle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113526221/the-school-tangle/ |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Chicago Tribune |access-date=5 August 2022 |language=en |date=June 23, 1917}}{{Open access}}{{cite web |last1=McElland |first1=Edward |title=Why You Can't Impeach a Chicago Mayor |url=https://www.chicagomag.com/news/january-2020/why-you-cant-impeach-a-chicago-mayor/ |website=Chicago Magazine |access-date=5 August 2022 |date=January 3, 2020}} The mayor attempted to fight the reinstatement of the three school board members, having fifty policemen guard the Chicago Board of Education's offices to keep the three out. State's Attorney Hoyne launched an investigation to determine whether or not Mayor Thompson was guilty of malfeasance in office for failing to recognize the rights of the City Council.
Loeb was not restored to the office of board president
=Later tenure=
Civic involvement
Loeb was president of Chicago's esteemed Standard Club from 1925 through 1928.
A Jew himself, Loeb was a booster for the Jewish people, particularly in the city of Chicago.{{cite web |title=THE GROWTH OF JEWISH CHICAGO {{!}} The Reform Advocate {{!}} 15 נובמבר 1930 {{!}} אוסף העיתונות {{!}} הספרייה הלאומית |url=https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/refadv/1930/11/15/01/article/23/?e=-------he-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxTI--------------1 |website=www.nli.org.il |publisher=The Reform Advocate |access-date=26 December 2021 |language=he |date=1930}} For 22 years, until retiring in 1933, Loeb was president of the organization initially known as the Chicago Hebrew Institute and later renamed the Jewish People's Institute.{{cite web |title=Hebrew Institute Elects |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/355112402 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Chicago Tribune |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=6 August 2022 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=May 13, 1915}}{{cite web |title=Chicago Hebrew Institute |url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/575.html |website=www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org |access-date=6 August 2022}} He served as honorary president for years afterwards.{{cite web |title=Charles Aaron Elected Leader of Institute |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/194766188 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Chicago Tribune |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=6 August 2022 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=January 19, 1941}} In 1922, at a Jewish Relief dinner held at New York City's Commodore Hotel, Loeb attracted attention for castigating New York Jews for what he alleged was apathy towards the persecution of Eastern European Jews and a failure in their duty to help European Jews.{{cite web |title=JEWS CONTRIBUTE $1,100,000 TO RELIEF; Jacob M. Loeb of Chicago Denounces Apathy of New York Jews, Richest in the World.WARBURG'S REPLY, $100,000Louis Marshall Compares Loeb'sSpeech to a Common-LawIndictment for Murder. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1922/02/20/archives/jews-contribute-1100000-to-relief-jacob-m-loeb-of-chicago-denounces.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=26 December 2021 |date=20 February 1922}} Rabbi Stephen Samuel Wise later spoke in agreement with Loeb's remarks.{{cite web |title=Rabbi Wise Scores Relief Fund Failure; Says Jacob M. Loeb Was Right as Drive for Jewish Orphans Is Extended. Only Half oF Quota Made To Match Chicago, Local Jews Should Raise $10,000,000, He Declares--High Living Blamed. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1922/03/06/archives/rabbi-wise-scores-relief-fund-failure-says-jacob-m-loeb-was-right.html |website=The New York Times |date=6 March 1922}}
Involvement in the "trial of the century"
Loeb's nephew Richard Albert Loeb, the son of his brother Albert Loeb, became one half of the murderous duo known as "Leopold and Loeb", whose 1924 murder trial was often dubbed the "trial of the century". Loeb's brother Albert had a heart attack a few days before his son had murdered Bobby Franks and remained in poor health during the trial. To aid in his recovery, Albert Loeb retired to his family's Charlevoix estate and remained there in seclusion during the period of the trial. In Albert Loeb's absence, Jacob Loeb and Allan Loeb (the eldest son of Albert Loeb) served as the public representatives of their family during the trial, attending the court hearings and acting as liaisons between attorney Clarence Darrow and other involved parties.{{cite book|first=Hal|last=Higdon|page=161|title=Leopold & Loeb. The Crime of the Century|year=1975|isbn=978-0-252-06829-4}} Loeb took the stand himself in an effort to help save his nephew from receiving capital punishment.{{cite web |title=Jacob Loeb, prominent real estate man and politician of Chicago, and... |url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jacob-loeb-prominent-real-estate-man-and-politician-of-news-photo/459191430 |website=Getty Images |access-date=6 August 2022 |language=en-us}}
Personal life and family
Loeb was the brother of attorney and businessman Albert Henry Loeb, whose son was the murderer Richard Albert Loeb.{{cite web |title=Family Keeps "Dickie" From Funeral Today |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/355027721 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Chicago Tribune |access-date=26 December 2021 |language=en |url-access=subscription |date=October 29, 1924}} Loeb was also the brother of Sydney Loeb.{{cite web |title=Bold Boy Bandit Robs Bridge Game; Lad Gives Back 'Presents' But Lifts Several Hundred Dollars From a Chicago Party. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1921/06/11/archives/bold-boy-bandit-robs-bridge-game-lad-gives-back-presents-but-lifts.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=6 August 2022 |date=11 June 1921}}
Loeb was the father of the composer John Jacob Loeb.
Death
References
{{reflist}}
{{Presidents of the Chicago Board of Education|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loeb, Jacob}}