- Person
- Julius Rosenwald
- Lived
- 1862–1932
- Field
- Retail & philanthropy
- From
- American
The story
Julius Rosenwald grew up in Springfield, Illinois, the son of German Jewish immigrants, left high school at sixteen and learned the clothing trade in New York before moving to Chicago. In 1895 he invested $37,500 in Sears, Roebuck, and by 1908 he was its president. As a young man his dream had been to earn $15,000 a year: a third to spend, a third to save and a third to give away. Sears made him far richer than that. He said his business success had earned him more money than he could ever spend, so he decided to give it away with civic stewardship in mind.
His generosity first drew national attention on his fiftieth birthday, 12 August 1912, when he gave away $687,000, nearly $700,000, to a range of organisations. The gifts included $250,000 for a building at the University of Chicago, near his home. The university named it Rosenwald Hall while he was abroad. He disliked having his name on buildings and would have stopped it had he been in Chicago, but on his return he chose not to object, to avoid embarrassing the university.
He joined the university's board of trustees that year and was one of its most active members for twenty years, until his death. He took a special interest in the work of the Egyptologist James Breasted, visiting his excavations at Luxor. By the end of his life his gifts to the university totalled $4.5 million, including $2 million for the Burton-Judson dormitories.
From 1912 his donations averaged about $500,000 a year. He also helped finance Jane Addams's Hull House and Grace Abbott's Immigrant Protection League in Chicago, and the same year he joined the board of the Tuskegee Institute, beginning the partnership with Booker T. Washington that would produce the Rosenwald Schools. He was never a passive donor: he served on committees, travelled to promote his causes and usually required others to give alongside him.
The National Park Service calls him one of the most socially impactful sons of Springfield, and over his lifetime he gave more than $60 million through personal and foundation giving. His fiftieth birthday marked the moment when a successful merchant became one of the most generous and inventive philanthropists of his age.
Why it matters
Rosenwald’s steady giving strengthened universities, settlement houses and immigrant aid in Chicago and beyond.
About Julius Rosenwald
Clothier who turned Sears, Roebuck into America’s great mail-order retailer, then helped build nearly 5,000 schools for Black children across the segregated South.
More about Julius Rosenwald
- Julius Rosenwald helped launch county farm advisersJulius Rosenwald gave $1,000 grants to the first 100 US counties to hire County Extension Agents, helping the Department of Agriculture launch a valuable rural programme.
- Julius Rosenwald founded Chicago’s science museumJulius Rosenwald was the principal founder of Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, giving it over $5 million and serving as its president from 1927 to 1932.
- Rosenwald fellowships backed Marian Anderson and HughesFrom 1928 the Rosenwald Fund gave over $400,000 in fellowships to rising artists and scholars, most of them Black, including Marian Anderson, Langston Hughes and James Baldwin.
- Julius Rosenwald helped the young NAACPJulius Rosenwald gave several thousand dollars to help establish the NAACP and found a venue for its 1912 Chicago meeting, at his own synagogue, Temple Sinai.
- Julius Rosenwald built 5,000 schools for Black childrenSears president Julius Rosenwald partnered with Booker T. Washington to build about 5,000 Rosenwald Schools for Black children in the segregated South, educating some 600,000 students.
- Julius Rosenwald gave Sears workers a share of the profitsIn 1916 Julius Rosenwald and Albert Loeb launched one of the first comprehensive profit-sharing plans at Sears, open to every employee; 90% of workers joined.
- Julius Rosenwald built good housing for Black ChicagoansIn 1929 Julius Rosenwald built the Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments, 421 homes for African Americans in Chicago, investing $2.7 million for a modest return.
- Julius Rosenwald funded 25 YMCAs for Black AmericansJulius Rosenwald offered $25,000 to any city that raised $75,000 for a YMCA for African Americans; between 1911 and 1933 he helped build 25 YMCAs in 24 cities.
Sources
- Magnanimous Merchant: Julius Rosenwald American Business History Center
- Julius Rosenwald National Park Service
Another act of tikkun olam. This is part of tikkun olam, the Jewish idea of repairing the world, and every one of us can add to it.