Oscar Philipp
{{Short description|German-born metal trader who co-founded Philipp Brothers}}
{{Infobox person
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Oscar Israel Philipp
| birth_date = 1882
| birth_place = Wandsbek, Germany
| death_date = circa August 31, 1965 (age 77)
| death_place = Geneva, Switzerland
| death_cause =
| citizenship = German
English
| education =
| spouse = Clarisse Weil
| known_for = Co-founder of Philipp Brothers
| occupation = Metal trader
| children = Elliot Philipp
Anthony Bertram Philipp
| parents =
| family = Julius Philipp (brother)
Martha Bernays (cousin)
}}
Oscar Israel Philipp (1882–1965) was a German-born metal trader who co-founded Philipp Brothers.
Biography
Oscar Philipp was born to an Orthodox Jewish family in Wandsbek, Germany.{{Cite web|title=Oscar Israel Philipp, Hebrew Scholar and Publisher, Dead at 77 |publisher=Jewish Telegraph Agency |date=August 31, 1965 |url=https://www.jta.org/1965/08/31/archive/oscar-israel-philipp-hebrew-scholar-and-publisher-dead-at-77 }}{{Cite web|last= Storli |first=Espen|title= Ludwig Jesselson (1910-1993)|publisher=Immigrant Entrepreneurship|date=August 30, 2013 |url=https://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=167# |access-date=May 28, 2018}} He was a cousin to Martha Bernays, the wife of Sigmund Freud.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ejksDwAAQBAJ&q=Oscar+Philipp&pg=PT335|first= Isaiah|last=Berlin|title=Affirming: Letters 1975-1997|publisher=Vintage Digital|date=September 7, 2017|isbn=978-1845952259}} In 1901, his brother, Julius Philipp, founded a small metal trading company in Hamburg, where Oscar worked.{{Cite magazine |last= Meyer |first= Gregory |title=Rise and fall of a commodities powerhouse |magazine=Financial Times |date=February 2, 2015 |url=https://www.ft.com/content/92f86602-a7f1-11e4-be63-00144feab7de |url-access=subscription }}
In 1909, Oscar Philipp moved to London and established a metal trading company under the name of "Philipp Brothers".{{cite web |title=Phibro LLC: Private Company Information - BusinessWeek |author=Bloomberg |url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=4346852 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008132533/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=4346852 |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 8, 2012 |access-date=19 December 2010}}{{cite web |title=Phibro |author=Phibro |url=http://www.phibro.com/ |access-date=24 December 2010}}{{cite news| url=https://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2009/10/09/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-phibro-and-andrew-hall/ | work=Wall Street Journal | title=10 Things You Didn't Know About Phibro and Andrew Hall | first=Michael | last=Corkery | date=October 9, 2009}} Julius continued to run the German operation out of Hamburg. In 1914, with the advent of World War I, Siegfried Bendheim, an apprentice, German citizen, and minor partner in Philipp Brothers, avoided internment by the British government by moving to New York City where he established Philipp Brothers, Inc. Oscar was not affected by the war as he had previously obtained British citizenship. In 1923, another apprentice and second cousin to Bendheim, Siegfried Ullmann, moved to the New York office. In 1934, Julius moved Philipp Brothers' German operations to Amsterdam due to the rise of Nazi Germany and died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1944. Philipp handled all contacts with the European market. The New York office eventually became Philipp Brothers headquarters. By the 1950s, Philipp Brothers had become the largest metal trader in the world.{{Cite web|title= Elliot Philipp |publisher=The Telegraph|date= October 7, 2010|url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/8049068/Elliot-Philipp.html }}
Philanthropy
Philipp, a Hebrew scholar, was active in Jewish and Zionist causes. He served as a chairman of the Bachad fellowship, on the executive committee and council of British ORT, as a joint treasurer of Jews' College, as the treasurer of the London Board of Jewish Religious Education, and the founder of the Hebrew Publishing House. He was one of the founders of the Technion University in Haifa and Kibbutz Lavi.
Personal life
Phillip was married to Clarisse Weil; they had two sons, obstetrician Elliot Elias Philipp and Anthony Bertram Philipp.{{Cite web|title=Obituary: Elliot Philipp 1915–2010|publisher=Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists|url=https://www.rcog.org.uk/en/news/membership-news/obituaries/obituary-elliot-philipp/ }}{{Cite web|title=Oscar Israel Philipp, Hebrew Scholar and Publisher, Dead at 77 |publisher=Jewish Telegraph Agency|date=August 31, 1965 |url=https://www.jta.org/1965/08/31/archive/oscar-israel-philipp-hebrew-scholar-and-publisher-dead-at-77 }} He died in Geneva, Switzerland.
References
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Category:British company founders
Category:19th-century German Jews
Category:Businesspeople in metals
Category:German commodities traders