{{Short description|American philanthropist (1887–1957)}} {{Infobox person | name = Louis Mayer Rabinowitz | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = October 16, 1887 | birth_place = Rosanne (Raseiniai), Lithuania | death_date = {{death date and age|1957|4|27|1887|10|16}} | death_place = New York City, U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | other_names = | education = | alma mater = | occupation = Businessman, philanthropist | employer = | known_for = | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = Rose Netter Rabinowitz | children = Victor Rabinowitz, Lucille Perlman | parents = | relatives = Marcia Rabinowitz (daughter-in-law), Samuel Perlman (son-in-law), Joanne Grant <small>(daughter-in-law)</small>, Joni Rabinowitz (granddaughter), Peter Rabinowitz (grandson), Bill Perlman (grandson), Lee Perlman (grandson), Mark Rabinowitz (grandson), Abby Rabinowitz (granddaughter) }} '''Louis M. Rabinowitz''' (1887–1957) was an American businessman, philanthropist and art collector. Born in Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire), he emigrated to the United States, where he founded a manufacturing company and became a millionaire. He established endowments at Yale University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He funded Nelson Glueck's archaeological trips to the Negev of Israel. His art collection is held posthumously at the Yale University Art Gallery.
==Background== Louis M. Rabinowitz was born on October 16, 1887, in Rosanne (Raseiniai), now Lithuania.<ref name="dictionarycohn">{{cite book|last1=Cohn-Sherbok|first1=Dan|title=Dictionary of Jewish Biography|date=2010|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=9781441197849|oclc=939168506|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ImxAwAAQBAJ&q=rosanne%2C+lithuania&pg=PA235}}</ref><ref name="blackwellbio">{{cite web|title=Rabinowitz, Louis M. (1887–1957)|url=http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9780631187288_chunk_g978063118728823_ss1-35|website=Blackwell Reference Online|accessdate=September 6, 2016}}</ref><ref name="bulletinjstorobit">{{cite journal|last1=Albright|first1=W. F.|title=Louis M. Rabinowitz in Memoriam|journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research|date=April 1957|volume=146|issue=146|pages=2–1|doi=10.1086/BASOR1355909|jstor=1355909|s2cid=166521938}}</ref> He emigrated to the United States in 1901,<ref name="dictionarycohn"/><ref name="blackwellbio"/> at the age of 14.<ref name="jtaobit">{{cite news|title=Louis M. Rabinowitz, Noted Philanthropist and Bibliophile, Dead|url=https://www.jta.org/1957/04/29/archive/louis-m-rabinowitz-noted-philanthropist-and-bibliophile-dead|accessdate=August 18, 2016|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|date=April 29, 1957}}</ref>
==Career==
Upon his arrival, Rabinowitz worked menial jobs and learned English by reading books in the Cooper Union library.<ref name="louismrabiyaleuniversitylibrary">{{cite journal|last=Babb|first=James T.|title=Louis M. Rabinowitz|journal=The Yale University Library Gazette|date=July 1957|volume=32|issue=1|pages=1–2|jstor=40859389}}</ref>
He founded L.M. Rabinowitz & Co., a corset manufacturing company based in Brooklyn, New York City.<ref name="dictionarycohn"/><ref name="bulletinjstorobit"/><ref name="bridgeportobit">{{cite news|title=Louis M. Rabinowitz, Philanthropist, Dies|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/32244707/?terms=%22Louis%2BM.%2BRabinowitz%22|accessdate=August 22, 2016|work=The Bridgeport Telegram|location=Bridgeport, Connecticut|date=April 29, 1957|page=16|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}</ref> He served as its chairman.<ref name="bulletinjstorobit"/> He sold it to Holland Furnace Co., a Holland, Michigan-based home furnace company, for US$2 million in 1966.<ref name="thebeestrictlybusiness">{{cite news|title=Strictly Business|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/46673655/?terms=%22L.M.%2BRabinowitz%2B%26%2BCo%22|accessdate=August 21, 2016|work=The Bee|location=Danville, Virginia|date=February 12, 1966|page=8|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}</ref><ref name="firmboughtbyfurnace">{{cite news|title=Firm Bought By Furnace Holland Co.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/22023794/?terms=%22L.M.%2BRabinowitz%2B%26%2BCo%22|accessdate=August 21, 2016|work=The News-Palladium|location=Benton Harbor, Michigan|date=February 14, 1966|page=16|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}</ref>
Rabinowitz served on the board of directors of the Municipal Bank of Brooklyn.<ref name="loansvotedbydir">{{cite news|title=Loans Voted By Directors To Each Other|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/59841487/?terms=%22Louis%2BM.%2BRabinowitz%22|accessdate=August 21, 2016|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|location=Brooklyn, New York|date=March 20, 1931|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=2}}</ref>
==Philanthropy== Rabinowitz established the Rabinowitz Fund for Judaica Research at Yale University.<ref name="jtaobit"/><ref name="yalebenefactor">{{cite web|title=Louis M. Rabinowitz (1887-1957), a major benefactor of the Yale Judaica Collection|url=http://campuspress.yale.edu/judaicacollection/2013/11/04/louis-m-rabinowitz-1887-1957-a-major-benefactor-of-the-yale-judaica-collection/|website=Judaica Collection at Yale University Library|publisher=Yale University|accessdate=August 18, 2016|date=November 4, 2013}}</ref> He also endowed the chair in Semitic Languages and Literature at Yale; it was held by Franz Rosenthal.<ref name="bulletinjstorobit"/><ref name="jtaobit"/> He received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.<ref name="bulletinjstorobit"/> He also received a citation from National Jewish Welfare Board for his support of Jewish literature in 1956.<ref name="honoringpatronwisconsin">{{cite news|title=Honoring Patron of Jewish Literature|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/49948449/?terms=%22Louis%2BM.%2BRabinowitz%22|accessdate=September 6, 2016|work=The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle|location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin|date=June 29, 1956|page=3|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}</ref> thumb|right|The Negev in Israel, where Rabinowitz sponsored archeological trips in the 1950s.
Rabinowitz donated US$50,000 to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for the research of synagogues in the Near East in 1949.<ref name="louis49setsup">{{cite news|title=Louis M. Rabinowitz Sets Up Israel Synagogue Research Fund|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/57072788/?terms=%22Bernard%2BCherrick%22|accessdate=August 17, 2016|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|location=Brooklyn, New York|date=July 10, 1949|page=7|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}</ref> This led to the exploration of ancient synagogues in Caesarea, Yafa an-Naseriyye, Sha'alvim and other places in Israel.<ref name="louismisraelexplorationjournal">{{cite journal|journal=Israel Exploration Journal|date=1957|volume=7|issue=2|page=136|jstor=27924699|title=Louis M. Rabinowitz — in Memoriam}}</ref> He also funded a trip to Syria, which led to the exploration of the Dura-Europos synagogue.<ref name="louismisraelexplorationjournal"/>
Rabinowitz served on the board of trustees of the American Schools of Oriental Research from 1949 to 1957.<ref name="bulletinjstorobit"/> He funded Nelson Glueck's archaeological trips to the Negev in 1952, 1953,<ref name="sponsorswisconsin54negev">{{cite news|title=Sponsors Archeological Survey of the Negev|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/49961907/?terms=%22Louis%2BM.%2BRabinowitz%22|accessdate=September 3, 2016|work=The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle|location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin|date=March 12, 1954|page=2|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}</ref> and 1954,<ref name="bronzeagegasconade">{{cite news|title=Bronze Age Village Predating Abraham, Discovered in Israel|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/83395557/?terms=%22Louis%2BM.%2BRabinowitz%22|accessdate=September 6, 2016|work=Gasconade County Republican|location=Owensville, Missouri|date=January 7, 1954|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=4}}</ref> where many ancient Jewish sites were found.<ref name="bulletinjstorobit"/>
==Personal life and death== Rabinowitz had a wife, Rose,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/08/18/89342402.pdf|title=Mrs. Louis M. Rabinowitz, Philanthropist's Widow, 82.|work=The New York Times|date=Aug 18, 1968|page=89|quote=Mrs. Rose Netter Rabinowitz, widow[...]}}</ref> a son, Victor, who became a lawyer<ref name="unrepentantleftist164">{{cite book|last1=Rabinowitz|first1=Victor|title=Unrepentant Leftist: A Lawyer's Memoir|date=1996|publisher=University of Illinois Press|location=Urbana, Illinois|isbn=9780252022531|oclc=33983918|page=[https://archive.org/details/unrepentantlefti0000rabi/page/164 164]|url=https://archive.org/details/unrepentantlefti0000rabi|url-access=registration|quote=Louis M. Rabinowitz.}}</ref> and a daughter, Lucille. His daughter-in-law, Joanne Grant, was a journalist and Civil Rights activist. [[File:Benjamin West 001.jpg|thumb|right|Benjamin West, ''Agrippina Landing at Brundisium with the Ashes of Germanicus'' (1768), formerly owned by Rabinowitz.]] Rabinowitz was an art and antique book collector. For example, he owned four First Folios.<ref name="theshakespeare261">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtNPrL_dvLYC&q=Hannah+D.+Rabinowitz&pg=PA261|title=The Shakespeare First Folio: A New Worldwide Census of First Folios|date=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780198187691|location=New York|page=261|oclc=45505940|last1=West|first1=Anthony James}}</ref> He also owned paintings by Benjamin West, like his 1768 ''Agrippina Landing at Brundisium with the Ashes of Germanicus'', later donated to the Yale University Art Gallery.<ref name="yalegallery">{{cite web|title=Truth to Power: Benjamin West's Agrippina Landing at Brundisium with the Ashes of Germanicus|url=http://artgallery.yale.edu/education/lesson/lecture-7|website=Yale University Art Gallery|publisher=Yale University|accessdate=September 1, 2016}}</ref>
Rabinowitz died on April 27, 1957, in New York City.<ref name="bulletinjstorobit"/><ref name="jtaobit"/><ref name="louismrabiyaleuniversitylibrary"/> He was 69 years old.<ref name="bulletinjstorobit"/><ref name="jtaobit"/> By December 1957, the Yale University Library established the Louis M. Rabinowitz Memorial Fund in his honor.<ref name="louismemorialfundyale">{{cite journal|title=Louis M. Rabinowitz Memorial Fund in the Yale University Library|journal=Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society|date=December 1957|volume=47|issue=2|page=124|jstor=43059927}}</ref>
==Legacy==
The Louis M. Rabinowitz Foundation was chaired by his son Victor Rabinowitz posthumously.<ref name="unrepentantleftist164"/> A 1967 file from the Federal Bureau of Investigation showed that it supported Civil Rights leader Floyd McKissick.<ref name="anderson72">{{cite news|last1=Anderson|first1=Jack|title=Merry-Go-Round|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/22646587/?terms=%22Louis%2BM.%2BRabinowitz%22|accessdate=September 1, 2016|work=Moberly Monitor-Index|location=Moberly, Missouri|page=3|date=August 14, 1972|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |quote=The FBI file on black leader Floyd McKissick reveals that, in 1967, he "received Check Number 2665 made out in his name and drawn against the account of the Louis M. Rabinowitz Foundation, Incorporated, in the amount of $2500."}}</ref>
==See also==
* Louis M. Rabinowitz Foundation * Victor Rabinowitz
==References== {{Commons}}{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabinowitz, Louis M.}} Category:American corporate directors Category:Philanthropists from New York (state) Category:1887 births Category:1957 deaths Category:American company founders Category:American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Category:Businesspeople from New York City Category:Benefactors of Yale University Category:20th-century American philanthropists Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States