Frieda Schiff Warburg
Frieda Warburg(néeSchiff; February 3, 1876 – September 14, 1958) was a Jewish-American philanthropist and communal worker from New York.
Life
[edit]Warburg was born on February 3, 1876, inNew York City, New York,the daughter ofJacob Schiffand Therese Loeb. A member of New York City's German Jewish elite, her father was a preeminent Jewish communal leader and head of the banking firmKuhn, Loeb & Co.,and her maternal grandfather was a founder of the banking firm. She had an opulent private education, although her formal education ended after she graduated from theBrearley School.[1]
Warburg participated with her husband Felix in numerous cultural and philanthropic undertakings he was associated with. Active in interests of her own, she served as president of theYoung Women's Hebrew Associationfrom 1928 to 1938. She was active inHadassah,serving as honorary chairman of the building fund campaign of theRothschild-Hadassah-University HospitalinJerusalem.She was also honorary chairman of the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies of New York City and chairman of the women's division of its 1930 campaign, honorary chairman of theJoint Distribution Committee,and an executive committee member of the Welfare Council of New York City. She regularly donated to various causes, creating a $500,000 fund for theVisiting Nurse Service of New Yorkin 1924 and giving a $90,000 gift to theJewish Theological Seminary of Americato commemorate her father's 90th birthday anniversary in 1937.[2]
Warburg became vice-president of theJewish Welfare Boardin 1937, served as honorary vice-president of the Welfare Council of New York City from 1943 to 1945, and was an honorary president of theAmerican Friends of the Hebrew Universityand an honorary vice-president of the International Youth Aliyah Committee. She created a $500,000 fund to support the Visiting Nursing Service of New York in 1924, and in 1951 she contributed $650,000 to the UJA for housing and educating new Israeli immigrants to Israel.[3]She became a director of the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1938, like her father, husband, and brother before her. The first (and for much of her tenure only) woman director of the Seminary, she was consulted about their programs for women. In 1944, she donatedher husband's mansiononFifth Avenueto the Seminary. In 1947, they opened the mansion as theJewish Museum.While she and her husband supported development in Israel before and after it became a state, she wasn't a Zionist.[1]
A patron of the arts, Warburg gifted paintings and etchings to theMetropolitan Museum of Art,Vassar College,theLibrary of Congress,theNational Gallery of Art,theNew York Public Library,theMorgan Library,theMannes College of Music,theBrooklyn Institute of Arts and Science,theBoston Museum of Fine Arts,theSpringfieldMuseum of Fine Arts,Princeton University,New York University,and theHarvard Art Museums.In 1945, she received an honoraryDoctor of Humane Lettersdegree fromHebrew Union Collegeand an honorary L.H.D. degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary, making the first woman to receive an honorary degree from the latter school. In 1952, the Palestine Economic Corporation named her one of the six American builders of Israel. In 1956, the Joint Distribution Committee named a home for the aged inNetanya, Israelafter her. She was affiliated withCongregation Emanu-El,politically a Democrat, and a member of the Century Club and theWomen's City Club.[4]
In 1895, Warburg married banker and philanthropistFelix M. Warburgof theWarburg family,who became senior partner of her father and grandfather's firm Kuhn, Loeb & Co. Their children were bankerFrederick Marcus,cellist Gerald Felix, bankerPaul Felix,and philanthropistEdward Mortimer Morris.[5]She also had a daughter Carola, who married Edward M. Rothschild.[6]
In 1956, she donated the 150 acres of her Woodlands estate to the Greenburgh Central 8 school district, forming the school district known today as the Greenburgh Central School District (formerly Greenburgh Central 7).
Warburg died at her home at Meadow Farm on her former estate in Woodlands inWhite Plainson September 14, 1958.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ab"Frieda Schiff Warburg".Jewish Women's Archive.RetrievedJuly 31,2022.
- ^Landman, Isaac,ed. (1943).The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia.Vol. 10. New York, N.Y.: The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Inc. p. 456 – viaGoogle Books.
- ^Fine, Morris;Himmelfarb, Milton,eds. (1960).American Jewish Year Book, 1960(PDF).Vol. 61. p. 419 – viaAmerican Jewish CommitteeArchives.
- ^The National Cyclopædia of American Biography.Vol. XLIV. New York, N.Y.:James T. White and Company.1962. pp. 72–73 – viaHathiTrust.
- ^"Warburg".Encyclopedia.com.RetrievedAugust 1,2022.
- ^Simons, John, ed. (1938).Who's Who in American Jewry, 1938–1939.Vol. 3. New York, N.Y.: National News Association, Inc. p. 1103 – viaFamilySearch.
- ^"Mrs. Warburg, 82, Arts Patron, Dies"(PDF).The New York Times.Vol. CVII, no. 36759. New York, N.Y. September 15, 1958. p. 21.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- 1876 births
- 1958 deaths
- 19th-century American Jews
- 20th-century American Jews
- American people of German-Jewish descent
- Schiff family
- Warburg family
- Brearley School alumni
- People from New York City
- People from White Plains, New York
- Jewish Theological Seminary of America people
- Philanthropists from New York (state)
- 20th-century American philanthropists
- American women philanthropists
- 20th-century women philanthropists