Paul Bonwit
Paul Bonwit | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | December 11, 1939 New York City, US | (aged 77)
Occupation | Founder of Bonwit Teller department store |
Spouse | Sarah Woolf |
Paul Joseph (Josef) Bonwit (September 29, 1862 – December 11, 1939) was a Kingdom of Hanover-born American businessman. He was the founder of Bonwit Teller department store in New York City. Bonwit controlled the company bearing his name from its founding in 1895 until its sale in 1934.
Personal life
Bonwit was born near Hanover, Kingdom of Hanover, the son of Bernard Bonwit.[1] At the age of 16, he moved to Paris, where he found work with a local export house as a clerk and continued his studies at night. In 1883, at age 21, he emigrated to the United States, locating at first in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he worked in a department store. He moved to New York City for a job with Rothschild & Company, which was renamed Bonwit, Rothschild & Company when he later became a partner. He eventually settled in New York. He married Rebecca Woolf Bonwit[2] (1869–1934) in 1893 and they had two sons, Harold Woolf Bonwit (1896–1950) and Walter B. Bonwit (1901–1984).
Bonwit Teller
Wanting his own business, Bonwit established a store in New York at Sixth Avenue and Eighteenth Street in 1895. Two years later Edmund D. Teller and he relocated their establishment (now known as Bonwit Teller) to Sixth Avenue and Twenty-third Street. The partners incorporated their firm in 1907 as Bonwit Teller & Company and in 1911 relocated yet again, this time to the corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-eighth Street.[3]
In 1930 Bonwit chose a new address farther north on Fifth Avenue – the former
The company enjoyed success under the direction of the Odlums.
During his business career, Bonwit sat on the boards of both Harriman National Bank and A. Sulka & Company, while he also maintained an interest in philanthropies and the arts. He maintained an active interest in philanthropies and the arts.
Paul J. Bonwit died in Manhattan in 1939 after a brief illness and is interred in a private mausoleum in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.[7]
References
- ^ Edward L. Lach, Jr. Paul J. Bonwit, American National Biography Online. "Bonwit, Paul J. (29 Sept. 1862 – 11 Dec. 1939), retail merchant, was born Paul Joseph (or Josef) Bonwit near Hanover, Germany, the son of Bernard Bonwit."
- ^ The Jewish Floridian, January 30, 1942. "… Rebecca Woolf Bonwit, mother of Walter B. Bonwit …" (University of Florida Digital Collections)
- ^ Hendrickson, Robert. The Grand Emporiums: The Illustrated History of America's Great Department Stores. New York: Stein and Day, 1980.
- ^ Bonwit Teller: Lively Interior On 57th Street, The New York Times, April 23, 1981
- ^ David L. Dworkin. 'I Should Have Known Better', The New York Times, June 10, 1990.
- ^ The Decline of Bonwit Teller: Did Time Pass Retailer By?, The New York Times, April 14, 1990
- ^ Obituary, The New York Times, December 11, 1939.