Leon Loeb
{{Short description|American businessman}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Leon Loeb
| image =
| image_upright =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 13 June 1845
| birth_place = Strasbourg, Alsace, France
| death_date = 22 Jul 1911 (aged 66)
| death_place = Los Angeles, California
| education =
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for =
| spouse = Estelle Newmark
| children = 4 including Joseph P. Loeb
| family = Harris Newmark (father-in-law)
Marc Eugene Meyer (cousin)
| signature =
}}
Leon Loeb (1845–1911) was a French-born American businessman who owned and operated the first department store in Los Angeles. He was a member of the Newmark family through marriage.
Biography
File:City of Paris department store Los Angeles 1890s.jpg
Leon (Leopold) Loeb, was born to a Jewish family in Strasbourg, Alsace, France,{{cite journal |last1=Selvin |first1=Molly |date=2015 |title=The Loeb Firm And the Origins of Entertainment Law Practice in Los Angeles, 1908–1940 |url= https://www.cschs.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Legal-Hist-v.-10-Loeb-Firm.pdf|journal=California Legal History Journal|volume=10 |issue= |pages=141 |doi= |access-date= }} the son of Rosalie (née Levi) and Jacob Loeb.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cBtbBAAAQBAJ&dq=leopold+loeb&pg=PT73|first= Debra Ann |last=Pawlak|authorlink=|title=Bringing Up Oscar: The Story of the Men and Women Who Founded the Academy|pages= |publisher=Pegasus Books (reprint edition)|date=January 12, 2012|isbn=9781453226186}} He worked as a bookkeeper in Switzerland before immigrating to Los Angeles in September 1864.{{Cite web|first=Linda |last=Levi |author-link= |title= Loeb and Loeb Law Firm - Pioneer Los Angeles Law Firm 1909 - Present |website=lindalevi.net|date= |url= http://www.lindalevi.net/family-history/2015/3/13/rglsd9ogwwkmiy1o5un43va5d03pfa |accessdate=}} He was able to secure a job at S. Lazard & Company (founded by Solomon Lazard and Maurice Kremer) where his cousin Marc Eugene Meyer worked. On 3 March 1874, Solomon Lazard retired and Marc Eugene Mayer, his brother Constant Meyer, and Nathan Kahn (Cahn) purchased S. Lazard & Co. renaming it Eugene Meyer & Company.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55729210/dissolution-of-solomon-lazard-co/|title = Dissolution of S(olomon) Lazard & Co. And sale to Eugene Meyer|newspaper = Los Angeles Evening Express|date = 3 March 1874|page = 3}} At Loeb's urging, they promoted the firm as "The City of Paris"{{Cite news|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55730491/city-of-paris-1874-51-53-main-st/|title=City of Paris 1874 51-53 Main St., Eugene Meyer & Co. successors to S. Lazard & Co.|date=March 20, 1874|pages=3|via=newspapers.com}} (not to be confused with the similarly named store in San Francisco), the city's first department store.{{cite book|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2sm4c6gn|first=Laura |last=Rosenzweig|authorlink=|title=HOLLYWOOD'S SPIES: JEWISH INFILTRATION OF NAZI AND PRO-NAZI GROUPS IN LOS ANGELES, 1933-1941 |pages= 122|publisher=University of California Santa Cruz|date=June 2013|isbn=}} The store would grow to be the largest and most elaborate department store in the Southwest.{{cite book|author=Carol Felsenthal|title=Power, Privilege and the Post: The Katharine Graham Story|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x0lNDwAAQBAJ&q=Marc+Eugene+Meyer&pg=PT12|date=4 January 2011|publisher=Seven Stories Press|isbn=978-1-60980-290-5|pages=14–15}}{{cite web |title=Solomon Lazard: Major Jewish Pioneer of Early Los Angeles' Infrastructure |url=http://www.jmaw.org/lazard-jewish-los-angeles/ |website=Jewish Museum of the American West |access-date=7 Sep 2018}} On 31 January 1879, Loeb purchased the interest held by Constant Meyer{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55731071/eugene-meyer-added-as-a-partner-to/|title = Eugene Meyer added as a partner to Eugene Meyer & Co. 1879|newspaper = Los Angeles Herald|date = 20 February 1879|page = 4}} and the firm was renamed Meyer, Kahn and Loeb.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/quarterly24hist/quarterly24hist_djvu.txt|first=|last=|authorlink=|title=PIONEER MERCHANTS OF LOS ANGELES |pages=85 |publisher=HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA |date=March 1942|isbn=}} In October 1883, Eugene Meyer sold his interest and moved to San Francisco to work for Lazard Frères. After the admission of to Emmanuel L. Stern as a partner, the company was renamed Stern, Cahn & Loeb.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55730324/dissolution-of-eugene-meyer-nathan/|title = Dissolution of Eugene Meyer, Nathan Cahn and L. Loeb. Establishment of Stern Cahn & Loeb 1883|newspaper = Los Angeles Herald|date = 27 October 1883|page = 6}} After the departure of Nathan Cahn, it was renamed Stern, Loeb & Company until its liquidation in the early 1890s.
Meyer had also been the French Consular Agent in Los Angeles, and he recommended Leopold Loeb to take as consul, which he did in 1883.{{cite news |title=25 years ago today (December 26, 1883) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55726663/leopold-loeb-of-city-of-paris-store-los/ |publisher=Los Angeles Evening Express |date=December 26, 1908}} Leopold Loeb served as the French Consular Agent for over fifteen years. The French government awarded him the Officer of the Academy (Officier d'académie).
Personal life
In 1879, he married Estelle Newmark, the daughter of Harris Newmark and granddaughter of Joseph Newmark. They had three children who survived to adulthood: Rose Newmark Levi (b. 1881) married to Herman Levi, Joseph P. Loeb (b. 1883), and Edwin J. Loeb (1886). A fourth child , George, died after several months. Loeb died in 1911.