Rodman Wanamaker
| Lewis Rodman Wanamaker | |
|---|---|
Wanamaker in 1927
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| Born |
February 13, 1863 Philadelphia |
| Died | March 9, 1928 (aged 65) Atlantic City, New Jersey |
| Education | Princeton University (1886) |
| Spouse(s) | Fernanda Henry |
| Children | Fernanda Wanamaker John Wanamaker II Anne Marie Louise Wanamaker |
| Parent(s) | John Wanamaker |
Lewis Rodman Wanamaker (February 13, 1863 – March 9, 1928) was a department store magnate. He owned stores in Philadelphia, New York City, and Paris, France. He was a patron of the arts, of education, of golf and athletics, of Native American scholarship, and was an investor in early aviation. He served as a Presidential Elector for Pennsylvania in 1916.
He was born on February 13, 1863 in Philadelphia to John Wanamaker and Mary Erringer Brown.
He entered Princeton University in 1881, graduating in 1886. In college, he sang in the choir, and was a member and business manager of the Princeton Glee Club. He was a member of the Ivy Club, the first eating club at Princeton University. He was a member of the 1885 Tiger football team that won the national championship when a dramatic last-minute punt return bested the Yale Bulldogs.
In 1886 he joined his father's business, and married Fernanda Henry of Philadelphia. He went to Paris as resident manager in 1889, and lived abroad for more than ten years. When his father purchased the former Alexander Turney Stewart business in New York in 1896, he helped revolutionize the department store with top quality items and is credited in particular with fueling an American demand for French luxury goods.
In 1911 he bought the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph.
Wanamaker was content to live in his father's shadow and did not actively seek the limelight except for some official, largely ceremonial positions he held in the City of New York toward the end of his life. Before John Wanamaker died in 1922 he turned all his holdings of the two stores over to Rodman. John Wanamaker had been the sole owner of the business, with his death in 1922, complete control and management passed from father to son. No other retail merchandising business on so large a scale in the world was in the hands of a single man.
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