Isaias W. Hellman
| Isaias W. Hellman | |
|---|---|
Isaias W. Hellman
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| Born |
Isaias Wolf Hellman October 3, 1842 Reckendorf, Bavaria |
| Died | April 9, 1920 (aged 77) San Francisco |
| Resting place | Home of Peace Cemetery and Emanu-El Mausoleum |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse(s) | Esther Newgass (m. 1870) |
| Children | Isaias William Hellman, Jr. Clara Hellman Florence Hellman |
Isaias Wolf Hellman (October 3, 1842 – April 9, 1920) was a German-born American banker and philanthropist, and a founding father of the University of Southern California.
One of three sons and four daughters, Isaias was born in Reckendorf, Bavaria, to German Jewish parents Wolf Hellmann (1815–1884), a master weaver, and Sara Fleischmann (1823–1888). He was educated in German public schools and at the College of Marktbreit, Bavaria. This school was founded by a Jew named Solomon Wohl in 1849. About half the students were gentiles. Isaias and his brother Herman W. Hellman left Hamburg on the steamer Hammonia, arriving in the Los Angeles, California on May 14, 1859 to join their cousins. A third brother James Hellman (1861-1940) also emigrated to Los Angeles. The four sisters were Bertha (b. 1845), Flora (b. 1846), Regina (b. 1848) and Ernestine (b. 1853). Ernestine married a wealthy cattle merchant named Schloss. Hellman went to work as a clerk in his cousins' dry goods store, and learned how to speak Spanish. He opened his own dry goods store in April 1865 on the Baker Block.
Hellman became Los Angeles' first banker almost by accident. As a courtesy, he stored his customers' gold and valuables in a safe. One day, Hellman got into an altercation with a customer who had been coming in and out of the store gloriously drunk, withdrawing gold each time from a pouch stored in the safe. When the man sobered up, he was angry to discover he had spent most of his funds, and he lunged at Hellman. That interaction prompted Hellman to stop his informal banking operations. He got slips printed up that said I.W. Hellman, Banker, and started buying people's funds and issuing deposit books.
On September 1, 1868, Hellman and Temple founded Hellman, Temple and Co., the fledgling city’s second official bank. In 1871, Hellman and John G. Downey, a former governor of California, formed the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Los Angeles, which became Los Angeles' first successful bank. Hellman lent the money that allowed Harrison Gray Otis to buy the Los Angeles Times and Edward Doheny and Charles A. Canfield to drill for oil.
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