Louis M. Rabinowitz (1887–1957) was an American businessman, philanthropist and art collector. Born in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

(then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

), he emigrated to the United States, where he founded a manufacturing company and became a millionaire. He established endowments at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

. He funded

Nelson Glueck Nelson Glueck (June 4, 1900 – February 12, 1971) was an American rabbi, professor, academic and archaeology, archaeologist. He served as president of Hebrew Union College from 1947 until his death, and his pioneering work in biblical archaeolo ...

's archaeological trips to the

Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. His art collection is held posthumously at the

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is an art museum in New Haven, Connecticut. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University. Although it embraces all cultures and period ...

Background

Louis M. Rabinowitz was born on October 16, 1887, in Rosanne (

Raseiniai Raseiniai (; Samogitian dialect, Samogitian: ''Raseinē'') is a city in Lithuania. It is located on the south eastern foothills of the Samogitians highland, some north from the A1 highway (Lithuania), Kaunas–Klaipėda highway. History Grand ...

), now

. He emigrated to the United States in 1901, at the age of 14.

Career

Upon his arrival, Rabinowitz worked menial jobs and learned English by reading books in the

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

library. He founded L.M. Rabinowitz & Co., a corset manufacturing company based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York City. He served as its chairman. He sold it to Holland Furnace Co., a

Holland, Michigan Holland is a city in Ottawa County, Michigan, Ottawa and Allegan County, Michigan, Allegan counties in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in the West Michigan, western region of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula, the city is si ...

-based home furnace company, for US$2 million in 1966. Rabinowitz served on the board of directors of the Municipal Bank of Brooklyn.

Philanthropy

Rabinowitz established the Rabinowitz Fund for Judaica Research at

. He also endowed the chair in Semitic Languages and Literature at Yale; it was held by

Franz Rosenthal Franz Rosenthal (August 31, 1914 – April 8, 2003) was the Louis M. Rabinowitz Professor of Semitic Languages at Yale University from 1956 to 1967 and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Arabic, scholar of Arabic literature and Islam at Yale from 196 ...

. He received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the

Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism as well as a hub for academic scholarship in Jewish studies ...

. He also received a citation from

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 ...

for his support of Jewish literature in 1956. Israel-2013-Ein Avdat 02

Rabinowitz donated US$50,000 to the

for the research of synagogues in the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

in 1949. This led to the exploration of ancient synagogues in

Caesarea Caesarea, a city name derived from the Roman title " Caesar", was the name of numerous cities and locations in the Roman Empire: Places In the Levant * Caesarea Maritima, also known as "Caesarea Palaestinae", an ancient Roman city near the modern ...

Yafa an-Naseriyye Yafa an-Naseriyye (, also Jaffa of Nazareth, or simply Yafa, Kfar Yafia or Yafi , ) is an Arab town in Israel. It forms part of the metropolitan area of Nazareth, also an Arab locality. Declared a local council in 1960, it had a population of in ...

Sha'alvim Sha'alvim () is a religious kibbutz in central Israel and one of only two affiliated with Poalei Agudat Yisrael ( Hafetz Haim being the other). Located near the city of Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gezer Regional C ...

and other places in Israel. He also funded a trip to

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, which led to the exploration of the

Dura-Europos synagogue The Dura-Europos synagogue was an Historic synagogues, ancient Judaism, Jewish former synagogue discovered in 1932 at Dura-Europos, Syria. The former synagogue contained a forecourt and house of assembly with painted walls depicting people and ...

. Rabinowitz served on the board of trustees of the

American Schools of Oriental Research The American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), founded in 1900 as the American School of Oriental Study and Research in Palestine, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, which supports the research and teaching of ...

from 1949 to 1957. He funded

's archaeological trips to the

in 1952, 1953, and 1954, where many ancient Jewish sites were found.

Personal life and death

Rabinowitz had a wife, Rose, a son, Victor, who became a lawyer and a daughter, Lucille. His daughter-in-law,

Joanne Grant Joanne Grant (March 30, 1930 – January 9, 2005) was an African-American journalist and Communist activist. She was a reporter for the ''National Guardian'', where she covered the American Civil Rights Movement in the American South in the 1960s. ...

, was a journalist and Civil Rights activist. Benjamin West 001

Rabinowitz was an art and antique book collector. For example, he owned four

First Folio ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...

s. He also owned paintings by

Benjamin West Benjamin West (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as ''The Death of Nelson (West painting), The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the ''Treaty of Paris ( ...

, like his 1768 '' Agrippina Landing at Brundisium with the Ashes of Germanicus'', later donated to the

. Rabinowitz died on April 27, 1957, in New York City. He was 69 years old. By December 1957, the

Yale University Library The Yale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Originating in 1701 with the gift of several dozen books to a new “Collegiate School," the library's collection now contains approximately 14.9 m ...

established the Louis M. Rabinowitz Memorial Fund in his honor.

Legacy

The Louis M. Rabinowitz Foundation was chaired by his son

Victor Rabinowitz Victor Rabinowitz (July 2, 1911 – November 16, 2007) was a 20th-century American lawyer known for representing high-profile dissidents and causes. Background Rabinowitz was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Rose (née Netter) and Louis M. R ...

posthumously. A 1967 file from the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

showed that it supported Civil Rights leader

Floyd McKissick Floyd Bixler McKissick (March 9, 1922 – April 28, 1991) was an American lawyer and civil rights activist. He became the first African-American student at the University of North Carolina School of Law. In 1966 he became leader of CORE, the Con ...

References