Louis Edward Kirstein (June 9, 1867 – December 10, 1942) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was the chairman of

Filene's Filene's (formally William Filene & Sons Co.) was an American department store chain; it was founded by William Filene in 1881. The success of the original full-line store in Boston, Massachusetts, was supplemented by the foundation of its off-pr ...

, a Boston-based department store. He was "one of the foremost merchants and commercial leaders in New England," and "one of the outstanding leaders of American Jewry."

Early life

Louis E. Kirstein was born on June 9, 1867, in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

. His father, Edward Kirstein, was an immigrant from Germany who first worked as a peddler and eventually owned an optics store in Rochester. His mother was Jeanette Leiter. His uncle owned a clothing manufacturing company in Rochester, Stein-Bloch Co. Kirstein left school at 13.

Career

Kirstein began his career by working in the

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

industry. He hired

John McGraw John Joseph McGraw (April 7, 1873 – February 25, 1934) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager who was for almost thirty years manager of the New York Giants. He was also the third baseman of the pennant-winning 189 ...

to play in Florida for $50 a month. He subsequently purchased the Rochester Ball Club. In 1890, he worked as a peripatetic salesman for his father; four years later, he worked in the same capacity for his uncle. Kirstein became a major investor and vice president of

, a department store headquartered in Boston, in 1912. He subsequently became its chairman. He also served on the boards of directors of

Abraham & Straus Abraham & Straus, commonly shortened to A&S, was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, it became part of Federated Department Stores in 1929. Shortly after Federated's 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company ...

, Lazarus,

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the business. It became a di ...

, R. H. White, and the Federated Department Stores (now known as

Macy's, Inc. Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito' ...

). He often negotiated with

organized labor A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

and encouraged other businessmen to do the same. He became "one of the foremost merchants and commercial leaders in New England." Kirstein was the co-founder and chairman of the American Retail Federation. He served on the Massachusetts Industrial Commission, the

National Labor Board The National Labor Board (NLB) was an independent agency of the United States Government established on August 5, 1933, to handle labor disputes arising under the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). Establishment, structure and procedures T ...

as well as on the Business Advisory Council of the

United States Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bus ...

. He also served on the Industrial Advisory Board of the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Con ...

National Recovery Administration The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was a prime agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933. The goal of the administration was to eliminate " cut throat competition" by bringing industry, labor, and governm ...

. He was a charter member of the Business Historical Society.

Philanthropy

Kirstein was the founder and president of the '' Associated Jewish Philanthropies of Boston''. He was also the chairman of the General Committee of the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish o ...

, and the honorary national chairman of the

United Jewish Appeal The United Jewish Appeal (UJA) was a Jewish philanthropic umbrella organization that existed from its creation in 1939 until it was folded into the United Jewish Communities, which was formed from the 1999 merger of United Jewish Appeal (UJA), ...

. Additionally, he served as a director of the

National Jewish Welfare Board The National Jewish Welfare Board (JWB) was formed on April 9, 1917, three days after the United States declared war on Germany, in order to support Jewish soldiers in the U.S. military during World War I. The impetus for creating the organization ...

. He was the president of the Graduate School for Jewish Social Work, now known as the Wurzweiler School of Social Work at

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universi ...

. He was also a member of the National Conference of Jews and Christians. Additionally, he served on the visiting committee of the

Semitic Museum The Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (HMANE, previously the Harvard Semitic Museum) is a museum founded in 1889. It moved into its present location at 6 Divinity Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1903. Description From the beginning, ...

, and he supported the Beth Israel Hospital. He became known as "one of the outstanding leaders of American Jewry." Kirstein joined the board of the

Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonwea ...

in 1919, and he served as its president five times. He was also associated with the Boston Community Fund. He was awarded an honorary master of arts degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

in 1933 and an honorary doctorate of commercial science from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...

in 1938. He became associated with the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...

, where a professorship (now held by

Jay Lorsch Jay William Lorsch (born 1932) is an American organizational theorist and the Louis Kirstein Professor of Human Relations at the Harvard Business School, known for his contribution of contingency theory to the field of organizational behavior. B ...

) was named in his honor.

Personal life and death

Kirstein married Rose Stein, whose father worked for his uncle's company. They had two sons and a daughter. He died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

on December 10, 1942 in Boston. His papers are held at the Harvard Business School's Baker Library. The Kirsteins had a second home in the North Shore and in 1914 Louis bought the Peabody estate in Salem to develop the Kernwood Country Club.Jewish Journal: August 29, 2019: Salem's Jewish History
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References

External links

*
Louis E. Kirstein papers
at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirstein, Louis E. 1867 births 1942 deaths American people of German-Jewish descent Businesspeople from Rochester, New York Businesspeople from Boston American corporate directors American businesspeople in retailing Jewish American philanthropists Harvard Business School people Deaths from pneumonia in Massachusetts Philanthropists from New York (state) Trustees of the Boston Public Library