Frank Altschul

Frank Altschul (April 21, 1887 – May 29, 1981) was an American financier who was a Senior Partner of Lazard Freres and the Chief Executive of General American Investors Company,^[1] and founder of the private family office, Overbrook Management Corporation.^[2]

Early life

Altschul was born to a Jewish family^[3] in San Francisco, the son of Camilla (née Mandlebaum) and Charles Altschul. His father had immigrated to the United States from London in 1877 and was the eighth employee of the San Francisco bank Lazard Freres.^[1] In 1901, the Altschul family moved to New York City.^[4] In 1908, Altschul graduated from Yale University.^[1]

Career

He joined Lazard Freres in 1908^[1] and served in France as an Army captain during World War I.^[1] In 1916, his father retired as partner at Lazares and Altschul took his place in the firm as one of five partners.^[3] In the 1920s, he was awarded the Legion of Honor by the government of France after giving successful advice on how to stabilize the French franc.^[3] In the 1930s, he served on the governing committee of the New York Stock Exchange and as a director of the Rockefeller-controlled, Chase National Bank.^[3] In 1934, he established Overbrook Press which specialized in illustrated, limited edition books for collectors.^[1] In 1943, he became Lazard Freres' senior partner and in the same year he retired from Lazard replaced by André Meyer and Pierre David-Weill, both recent French Jewish emigrants (1940 in the case of Meyer and 1942 in the case of David-Weill) from the French sister company, Lazard Frères et Cie in Paris which was soon after occupied by Nazi Germany.^[3] He was appointed executive at General American Investors Company, where he remained until he retired in 1961.^[1][3]

He founded the private family office, Overbrook Management Corporation, to manage and protect the wealth and financial well-being of the Altschul Family. In 2002, the office opened its doors to provides asset management and related services to institutional investors and high net worth individuals. Over the years, Overbrook’s leadership passed to his son, Arthur Altschul, and then to his grandson, Arthur Goodhart Altschul, Jr, who currently serves as Overbrook’s Chairman.^[2]

Philanthropy

In 1924, Altschul was a co-founder and served as the first chairman of the Yale Library Associates which oversees all the Yale libraries and also built the Beinecke Library, an archive of rare books many of which were gifted by Altschul. In 1961, Altschul donated $500,000 to endow a professorship at Yale named after the then-president of the university, A. Whitney Griswold; In 1964, he donated $500,000 to Williams College to establish a professorship in memory of his brother-in-law Governor Lehman; and in 1969, he donated $1 million to endow a chair in cardiology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. In 1960, the Altschuls donated heavily to the establish the Stamford Observatory in Connecticut. He also served as president of the Yale University Council.^[1] Altschul served as director of the English-Speaking Union, vice president of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, and as vice president and secretary of the Council on Foreign Relations.^[1]

Personal life

He was married to Helen Lehman Goodhart, granddaughter of Mayer Lehman, niece of Herbert H. Lehman, former United States Senator and Governor of New York (who his sister Edith married),^[1][3] and sister to Arthur Lehman Goodhart. They had three children: Margaret Lang (married to journalist Daniel Lang), Edith Graham, and Arthur G. Altschul.^[1] Altschul was a registered Republican who served twice as a Connecticut delegate to his party's national conventions;^[1] although he supported Adlai Stevenson II in his 1952 Presidential race against Dwight D. Eisenhower.^[1]

References