George Remus
| George Remus | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
November 14, 1874 Berlin, Germany |
| Died | January 20, 1952 (aged 77) Covington, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Occupation | Lawyer, pharmacist, bootlegger |
George Remus (November 14, 1874 – January 20, 1952) was a Cincinnati lawyer and bootlegger during the Prohibition era. It has been claimed that he was the inspiration for the title character Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Remus was born in Germany in 1874 to Frank and Maria Remus. Remus' family moved to Chicago by the time Remus was 5. At age 14 George supported the family by working at his uncle's pharmacy because Remus' father was unable to work. Remus was certified as a pharmacist at 19 after graduating from the Chicago College of Pharmacy and bought the pharmacy at age 21.
Within 5 years, Remus expanded, buying another drugstore. Remus soon tired of the pharmacy business and by 24, Remus became a lawyer.
On July 20, 1899, Remus married Lillian Klauff. Their daughter, born in 1900, was Romola Remus, who became a child actress in silent films, playing cinema's first Dorothy Gale in the 1910 version of The Wizard of Oz when she was just 8.
Remus attended the Illinois College of Law, and was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1904. Remus specialized in criminal defense, especially murder, and became rather famous. By 1920 he was earning $50,000 a year, a vast sum at the time. Remus divorced his first wife Lillian after an affair with his legal secretary, Augusta Imogene (Brown) Holmes, whom he subsequently married.
Alcohol Prohibition began on January 17, 1920 with ratification of the 18th Amendment, and within a few months Remus saw that his criminal clients were becoming very wealthy very quickly.
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Wikipedia