Adolph P. Schuman (1902–1985) was a prominent San Francisco businessman. He was the founder and president of the Lilli Ann apparel company, and a longtime Democratic Party campaign contributor who had close ties to

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and

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. His father was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant who came to America in the 1880s, was a diamond broker in San Francisco. Adolph started a wholesale women's clothing company in 1933 in two rented rooms with an $800 loan from his friend Rudy Schucci who drove a milk truck. In 1982, Lilli Ann reported retail sales of $20 million. After World War II, Schuman opened a Lilli Ann showroom in Paris and promoted his line by organizing a “San Francisco to Paris Fashion Show”, with lavish runway productions in both cities which brought him into personal contact with such leading Paris fashion designers as

Coco Chanel Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel ( , ; 19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a French fashion designer and Businessperson, businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post-World War I era with populari ...

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. At the same time, Schuman's purchase of huge quantities of European fabrics helped revitalize the war-ravaged French and Italian textile industries in the early 1950s."Adolph Schuman Dies at 73; Was Apparel Maker on Coast" ''The New York Times'', October 2, 1985
Census records indicate that Schuman was five years older than stated in this obituary A liberal Democrat, Schuman frequently held campaign fund-raising dinners and parties at his Nob Hill home, and was one of the four wealthy San Francisco Jewish political contributors - the others were Cyril Magnin, Benjamin Swig and

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- who formed what local Democratic politicians appreciatively called "The Green Machine" of the 1960s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schuman, Adolph 1902 births 1985 deaths American businesspeople in fashion American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent American political fundraisers Businesspeople from San Francisco 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American Jews