Mayer Lehman

{{Infobox person

| name = Mayer Lehman

| image = Mayer Lehman, 1890.jpg

| caption = Lehman {{circa}} 1890

| birth_date = {{birth date|1830|1|9|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Rimpar, Lower Franconia
Kingdom of Bavaria

| death_date = {{death date and age|1897|6|21|1830|1|9|mf=y}}

| death_place = New York, New York

| other_names =

| known_for =

| occupation = Merchant

| nationality = American

| spouse = Babetta Newgass

| children = Sigmund M. Lehmann
Hattie Lehman Goodhart
Lisette Lehmann Fatman
Clara Lehman Limburg
Arthur Lehmann
Irving Lehman
Herbert H. Lehman

| parents = Abraham Löw Lehmann

Eva Rosenheim

| family = {{nowrap| Henry Lehman (brother)
Emanuel Lehman (brother)}}

| relatives = Lehman family

| signature = Signature of Mayer Lehman (1830–1897).png

}}

Mayer Lehman (January 9, 1830 – June 21, 1897) was an American businessman, banker, slave owner, and philanthropist. He was one of the three founding brothers of the investment bank Lehman Brothers.

Early life

Mayer Lehman was born in 1830 to a German Jewish family in the small Franconian town of Rimpar near Würzburg. He was the son of Eva (Rosenheim) and a cattle merchant, Abraham Löw Lehmann.Bernhard, William, L., Birge, June Rossbach Bingham, Loeb, John L., Jr.. Lots of Lehmans – The Family of Mayer Lehman of Lehman Brothers, Remembered by His Descendants. Center For Jewish History, 2007, page 1Hall, Henry [https://archive.org/download/cu31924072688090/cu31924072688090.pdf America's successful men of affairs. An encyclopedia of contemporaneous biography] (1895), pp. 390–392{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vokWAQAAIAAJ&q=Eva+Lehmann+(Rosenheim) | title=The Lehmans: From Rimpar to the New World : A Family History | isbn=9783826018442 | last1=Flade | first1=Roland | year=1999 }}

Career and life in the United States

In 1850, Mayer emigrated to the United States, joining his brothers, Henry Lehman (b. 1822) and Emanuel Lehman, in Montgomery, Alabama. His brother Henry had left Germany in 1844 and opened a dry goods store named "H. Lehman".[https://web.archive.org/web/20080704140919/http://www.lehman.com/who/index.htm Lehman Brothers.com] His brother Emanuel left Germany in 1847 and joined Henry in his business endeavor, which they renamed "H. Lehman and Bro." With the arrival of Mayer in 1850, it became Lehman Brothers.Birmingham, Stephen. Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York. Harper and Row, 1967, page 47

As cotton was the most important crop of the Southern United States and global demand led to profitable business, the Lehman brothers became cotton factors, accepting cotton bales from customers as payment for their merchandise. Cotton trading eventually became the main thrust of their business.

Mayer Lehman supported the Southern cause during the American Civil War. Mayer was listed as the owner of seven slaves ("three males and four females ranging in age from 5 to 50") in the U.S. Census of 1860.{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/money/general/2002/02/21/slave-lehman-bros.htm |work=USA Today |title=Lehman Bros: 1 brother owned 7 slaves in 1860 |date=February 21, 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030629160139/https://www.usatoday.com/money/general/2002/02/21/slave-lehman-bros.htm |archive-date=June 29, 2003}} In 1864, the Governor of Alabama, Thomas H. Watts, appointed Mayer as a Commissioner to visit and look after the interests of Alabama Confederate soldiers being held as prisoners of war in the North. Other offers of public position were made to him but he declined.

In 1855, his brother Henry died from yellow fever while travelling in New Orleans.Archibald, Robert. [http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=20 "Mayer Lehman."] In Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present, vol. 2, edited by William J. Hausman. German Historical Institute. Last modified May 7, 2015. In 1867, Mayer and Emanuel moved the company's headquarters to New York City, leaving their New Orleans cotton operation (renamed Lehman, Newgass & Co) in the hands of their brother-in-law Benjamin Newgass{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sOSDgAAQBAJ&q=Benjamin+newgass&pg=PT139|first=Michael R.|last=Cohen|title=Cotton Capitalists: American Jewish Entrepreneurship in the Reconstruction Era|date=26 December 2017|isbn=9781479881017}}{{Cite book|first=Frances |last=Dinkelspiel |author-link=Frances Dinkelspiel |title= Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California |publisher=St. Martin's Press|date=January 5, 2010 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yc_xK2K_PeMC&q=Benjamin+Newgass&pg=PA56 |page=56|isbn=9781429959599 }}{{Cite web|first= Elliott |last= Ashkenazi|title= Jewish Commercial Interests Between North and South: The Case of the Lehmans and the Seligmans |website=American Jewish Archives|date= 1991|url=http://americanjewisharchives.org/publications/journal/PDF/1991_43_01_00_ashkenazi.pdf }} (father of British war hero Harold Newgass).{{Cite web|first=Kevin |last=Brazier |title=The Comprehensive Guide to the Victoria Cross |publisher=Victoria Cross and the George Cross Association |url=http://www.vconline.org.uk/harold-r-newgass-gc/4589395272 }} They eventually built their New York operation into an important American investment bank, which was in operation until its September 2008 collapse.

Mayer Lehman was one of the organizers of the New York Cotton Exchange, the oldest commodities exchange in New York City, and served as its director. Mayer Lehman concentrated on the railroad, land, industrial and mining enterprises of the business. He served as the director of The Hamilton Bank, The American Cotton Oil Company, The Union Oil Company of Providence, Rhode Island, and The N.K. Fairbank Company of Chicago.[http://www.dromo.info/lehmanmbio.htm Biography of Mayer Lehman] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050301003358/http://www.dromo.info/lehmanmbio.htm |date=2005-03-01 }} retrieved April 3, 2012

Philanthropy

Mayer Lehman took an active interest in philanthropic work and was a trustee of Temple Emanu-El as well as a generous giver to the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

He was also a member of the Harmonie Club.

Personal life

In 1858, Mayer Lehman married Babetta Newgass, the daughter of Isaac Newgass. Her sister, Esther, was married to banker Isaias W. Hellman. Together they had eight children; seven survived childhood:[http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/node/614 New York Social Diary: "Lots of Lehmans"] March 1, 2007

Sigmund M. Lehmann (1859–1930) - Was one of the founders of Montefiore Hospital.
Hattie Lehman Goodhart; married Philip Julius Goodhart; parents of Arthur Lehman Goodhart[http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/law/wps/WPS2010-01_Goodhart.pdf William Goodhart, QC] retrieved August 2, 2015
Lisette "Settie" (1864–1936); married Morris Fatman (1858–1930); parents of Elinor Morgenthau, the wife of Henry Morgenthau Jr., and grandparents of Robert M. Morgenthau
Clara Lehman Limburg[http://www.lehman.edu/lehman/enews/2007_08_27/feat_birge.html Lehman College: "June Bingham Birge, 1919 - 2007"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304221706/http://www.lehman.edu/lehman/enews/2007_08_27/feat_birge.html |date=March 4, 2016 }} August 27, 2007
Arthur Lehmann - Co-founder of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies and the Museum of the City of New York and father of philanthropists Dorothy Lehman Bernhard and Helen Lehman Buttenwieser.
Irving Lehman - Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1940 to 1945; Longtime president of the 92nd Street Y and Temple Emanu-El.
Herbert H. Lehman - the 45th Governor of New York (1933–1942) and US Senator from New York (1949–1956).

The couple were Reform Jews who, although they always observed the religious holidays, frowned on many other religious traditions and practices, instead focusing on educating their children in language, history and culture. The one tradition that Mayer emphasized was the Jewish tradition of tsedaka, the joy of giving. To instill the importance of charity into his children, Mayer took his three youngest — Arthur, Irving and Herbert — to Mount Sinai Hospital every Sunday to see the great needs of the less fortunate.[http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/node/614 New York Social Diary: "Lots of Lehmans"] March 1, 2007

Mayer Lehman died at his home in New York on June 21, 1897.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89985772/obituary-mayer-lehman/ |title=Obituary: Mayer Lehman |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=8 |date=1897-06-23 |access-date=2021-12-03 |via=Newspapers.com}}