Hermann (Gershon Yitzchak) Merkin

Hermann Merkin (born 1907 in Leipzig, Germany to Leib Merkin - died March 9, 1999 in New York City) was a Jewish-American businessman and philanthropist.

Merkin's family fled Germany to escape Nazi persecution and came to New York City in 1940. Soon after coming to the United States, Merkin joined the Army as an intelligence and counterintelligence officer. After the war he purchased a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, and founded Merkin & Company, an investment firm. He met and married Ursula Breuer in 1950 in -New York city and had six children, three sons and three daughters, and at the time of his death he had 20 grandchildren. He lived in New York City for the rest of his life with frequent trips to Israel for Jewish reasons. Although he was known to many people as an investment banker, the actual bulk of his fortune came from his ownership of 37 per cent of Overseas Shipholding Group, which owns and manages the second largest fleet of transatlantic oil tankers in the world. Consequently, he was actually not so much a banker, as a shipping magnate.

Merkin was a good friend of Herman Wouk and the two were very involved in the founding of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue in Manhattan. He and his wife "Ulla" sponsored the well-known Merkin Concert Hall in New York City and also gave generously to Mount Sinai Hospital, Yeshiva University- sponsoring a chair in memory of his father Leib Merkin and a school in memory of his late father-in-law Isaac Breuer. The school is (IBC) or Isaac Breuer College of Hebraic Studies is an undergraduate program. He served on Yeshiva University's Board of trustees for over three decades and for a time held the position of chairman. He also gave generously to Re'ut and many other Jewish charities; they were particularly interested in furthering Jewish education through philanthropic gifts.

Merkin was a devoutly Orthodox Jew, and regularly attended a shiur (Torah lecture). He was highly active in his synagogue.

Merkin died at age 91, New York City of congestive heart failure. He is the father of noted businessman and philanthropist J. Ezra Merkin and of writer and critic Daphne Merkin.

Sources

• Merkin's death notices at the New York Times
• Merkin's obituary at the New York Times

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Merkin

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http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/10/classified/paid-notice-deaths-mer...

Paid Notice: Deaths MERKIN, HERMANN

Published: March 10, 1999

MERKIN-Hermann. The Yeshiva University family expresses profound sorrow on the passing of a longtime friend, a distinguished philanthropist and communal leader in America and Israel who was senior vice chairman of YU's Board of Trustees and a Board member for three decades, including service as acting chairman. An honorary alumnus, he was a Benefactor with his wife, Ursula, advancing a wide range of University programs. In recognition of their major gift, YU's Teachers Institute for Men was renamed Isaac Breuer College of Hebraic Studies to memorialize Mrs. Merkin's renowned father. Mr. Merkin established the Leib Merkin Distinguished Professorial Chair in Talmud and Jewish Philosophy at our affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in memory of his eminent father-a chair long held by the late revered Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. A founding member of the Boards of YU's Yeshiva College, Stern College for Women, and Sy Syms School of Business, he formerly served on the Boards of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and Wurzweiler School of Social Work. He was an outstanding humanitarian whose benefactions covered many institutions and individuals, and he was a deeply faithful and observant Jew who was learned in the classical sources of the tradition. His life was truly a blessing. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his wife, Ursula; children, Dinah (and Andrew) Mendes, Deborah (and Nathaniel) Gerber, Ezra (and Lauren) Merkin, Daphne Merkin, Solomon Nehemiah (and Sharon) Merkin, and Rabbi David Elisha (and Rebecca) Merkin; sister, Eva Bondi; grandchildren; and the entire family. May they be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. Dr. Norman Lamm, President Yeshiva University David S. Gottesman, Chairman Board of Trustees

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http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/11/arts/hermann-merkin-91-benefactor...

Hermann Merkin, 91, Benefactor Of Judaism and a Concert Hall

By ALLAN KOZINN

Published: March 11, 1999

Hermann Merkin, a private investor and philanthropist for whom Merkin Concert Hall is named, died on Tuesday at his home in Manhattan. He was 91.

Mr. Merkin was born in Germany in 1907 and fled from the Nazis with his family. Soon after he arrived in New York in 1940, he joined the United States Army as an intelligence and counterintelligence officer. After the war he started Merkin & Company, a small investment concern.

His principal philanthropic interests were in the field of Jewish education. He joined the board of Yeshiva University in the 1960's and was its vice chairman from the early 1980's until his death. As a memorial to his father he endowed the Leib Merkin chair in Talmudic studies and Jewish philosophy at the university's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He was also on the board of Bar-Ilan University, in Israel. Mr. Merkin was a founder of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue and was its first president, from 1958 to 1976. He was the synagogue's chairman thereafter.

In 1981 Mr. Merkin and his wife, Ursula, made a gift to the Hebrew Arts School that helped transform the intimate auditorium of the school's Abraham Goodman House at 129 West 67th Street in Manhattan into an active performance center. When Goodman House opened in 1978, its hall was praised as a comfortable and acoustically ideal place to hear chamber music and recitals. But the school did not have the budget for frequent concert presentations.

The gift from the Merkins enabled the school to undertake an ambitious program of performances and to start an endowment, and its Concert Hall was renamed for the Merkins. The gift -- the amount of which has never been disclosed -- also enabled the school to build a separate entrance to the hall.

Besides his wife, Mr. Merkin is survived by three sons, Ezra, of New York, Solomon, of Englewood, N.J., and David, of Cleveland; three daughters, Daphne Merkin and Dinah Mendes of New York, and Deborah Gerber of Jerusalem, and 20 grandchildren.

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https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.2/3C3W-6ZM/p1

U.S. Social Security Death Index for Hermann Merkin

first name: Hermann

middle name:

last name: Merkin

name suffix:

birth date: 19 May 1907

social security number: 100-12-0502

place of issuance: New York

last residence: New York, New York

zip code of last residence: 10021

death date: 9 March 1999

Hermann Merkin
New York City Marriages, 1866-1949
Birth: May 19 1907 - Germany
Marriage: Nov 27 1949 - Manhattan, New York, United States
Bride: Ursula Breuer (Merkin)
Father: Leib Merkin
Mother: Sara Hepner