Benjamin Guggenheim

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Benjamin Guggenheim
Benjamin-guggenheim.jpg
Born (1865-10-26)October 26, 1865
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Atlantic Ocean, aboard the RMS Titanic
Nationality American
Citizenship American and German
Alma mater Peirce School of Business
Occupation Businessman
Spouse(s) Florette Seligman (m. 1894–1912)
Children Benita Rosalind Guggenheim
Peggy Guggenheim
Barbara Hazel Guggenheim
Parent(s) Meyer Guggenheim
Barbara Myers

Benjamin Guggenheim (October 26, 1865 – April 15, 1912)[1] was an American mining and smelting magnate, a member of the Guggenheim business and philanthropic family and victim of the RMS Titanic sinking.

Early life

Benjamin Guggenheim was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the fifth of seven sons of the Swiss-Jewish businessman Meyer Guggenheim (1828–1905) and Barbara Myers (1834–1900). He was educated in Philadelphia's public schools and entered the School of Mines at Columbia University in 1882, but left prior to graduating to work in his family's nascent mining business.[2] [3]

Family business career

In 1880, Meyer Guggenheim, while operating the lace and embroidery importing business M. Guggenheim And Sons, purchased shares of stock in the A.Y. and Minnie silver and lead mines in Leadville, Colorado. The mines struck ore in January of 1884 [4] and Benjamin moved to Leadville to assist in the mining operations, the first of Meyer's sons to do so. [5] He is listed as a mine's bookkeeper in the 1885 Leadville City Directory [6] and lived at 134 West 6th Street. [7] The Guggenheims entry into mining was the beginning of their rise to immense wealth and influence; they earned $750,000 in 1888 and would earn $15,000,000 in profit by the time of the mines' exhaustion.[8]

Several years after purchasing the mines, when Meyer ascertained that there were even larger profits to be made in smelting rather than extraction, Benjamin advised him to form his own smelting company, so Meyer purchased a share of ownership in Holden Smelters in Denver[9] and formed the Philadelphia Smelting And Refining Company, with Benjamin serving as its secretary and treasurer. M. Guggenheim And Sons departed from lace and embroidery at this time, and was completely devoted to mining and smelting, with each of Meyer's seven sons given an equal share in the business. Benjamin advocated that the company build a new smelter, one that Meyer declared would be "the largest in the civilized world", in Pueblo, Colorado and negotiated with local governmental officials and bankers to secure its construction.[10] Benjamin managed the Pueblo smelter for several years and in 1894, returned East to manage the newly-built Guggenheim smelter in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.[11]

During his time in Pueblo, Benjamin Guggenheim also served as president of the board of the Colorado Mineral Palace Company, which built Pueblo's Mineral Palace, a lavish tourist attraction and public events facility intended to showcase Colorado's mining wealth. Opening in 1891, the Mineral Palace contained one of the world's largest (at the time) viewable collections of minerals, ores and metals, including the personal collection of J.P. Morgan, and two large statues: "King Coal" and the "Silver Queen", the latter being an attraction at the 1893 World's Fair. The palace thrived at the turn of the century, but fell into increasing disrepair during the 1920s, was closed to the public in 1935, and was demolished and liquidated in 1943 to create materials for fighting the Second World War.[12]

Independent business career

Benjamin Guggenheim, along with his younger brother William, resigned as an active partner of M. Guggenheim and Sons in 1901. According to John H. Davis' biography The Guggenheims: An American Epic, contributing to this resignation was Benjamin's belief that his older brother Daniel was trying to deny the younger brothers significant responsibility in future ventures.[13]

Benjamin shifted his focus from smelting to the manufacturing of mining equipment. In 1903, Guggenheim acquired a controlling interest in the Holtchoff Machinery Company of Cudahy, Wisconsin; it subsequently merged with the Loomis-Pettibone Gas Machinery Company to form the Power And Mining Machinery Company, of which Guggenheim served as President.[14] Three years later, the Power And Mining Machinery Company merged with the International Steam Pump Company, with Guggenheim serving as CEO. In 1909, he became President of the ISPC. At that time, it operated 7 facilities, 6 in the U.S. and 1 in the U.K..[15]

Family and personal life

In 1894, Guggenheim married Florette Seligman (1870–1937),[16] daughter of James Seligman, a senior partner in the firm J & W Seligman, and Rosa Seligman née Content. They had three daughters: Benita Rosalind Guggenheim (1895–1927), Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim (1898–1979), an art collector, bohemian and socialite, and Barbara Hazel Guggenheim (1903–1995) a painter and art collector. The family lived in a rented room at the Hotel Majestic on Manhattan's Upper West Side before moving in 1899 into a limestone mansion on the Upper East Side on East 72nd street, next to the east entrance to Central Park.[17] Benjamin engaged in several extramarital affairs and it took numerous Guggenheim family members to dissuade Florette from divorcing him. Over time, he grew distant from his family; his daughter Peggy remarked that in 1911 "my father more-or-less freed himself from us".[18] He expatriated to Paris, France, where he kept a permanent residence, and courted a French cabaret singer named Léontine Aubart.

Aboard the Titanic

On the evening of April 10th, 1912, Guggenheim boarded the RMS Titanic at Cherbourg, France to visit New York to celebrate his daughter Hazel's 9th birthday.[19] He was accompanied by Léontine Aubart, his valet, Victor Giglio; his chauffeur, René Pernot; and Madame Aubart's maid, Emma Sägesser. His ticket was number 17593 and cost £79 4s (other sources give the price as £56 18s 7d). He and Giglio occupied stateroom cabin B82.

Guggenheim and Giglio slept through the Titanic's encounter with the iceberg only to be awakened just after midnight ship's time by Aubart and Sägesser, who had felt the collision. Guggenheim was persuaded to awaken and dress; Bedroom Steward Henry Samuel Etches helped him on with a lifebelt and a heavy sweater before sending him, Giglio, and the two ladies up to the Boat Deck.[20]

As Aubart and Sägesser reluctantly entered Lifeboat No. 9, Guggenheim spoke to the maid in German, saying, "We will soon see each other again! It's just a repair. Tomorrow the Titanic will go on again." Realizing that the situation was much more serious than he had implied, as well as realizing he was not going to be rescued, he then returned to his cabin with Giglio and the two men changed into evening wear. A French survivor, Rose Amelie Icard recalled in a 1955 letter: "The billionaire Benjamin Guggenheim after having helped the rescue of women and children got dressed, a rose at his buttonhole, to die." [21] The two were seen heading into the Grand staircase closing the door behind them. He was heard to remark, "We've dressed up in our best and are prepared to go down like gentlemen."

One of Guggenheim's final acts was to write the following message: "If anything should happen to me, tell my wife I've done my best in doing my duty."[22] He also gave a survivor a message saying, "Tell my wife, if it should happen that my secretary and I both go down, tell her I played the game out straight to the end. No woman shall be left aboard this ship because Ben Guggenheim was a coward."[citation needed] Guggenheim and his valet were last seen seated in deck chairs in the foyer of the Grand Staircase sipping brandy and smoking cigars.[citation needed] Guggenheim, Giglio and Pernot all went down with the ship and none of their bodies were recovered.

Portrayals

Benjamin Guggenheim was one of the most prominent American victims of the disaster. As such, he has been portrayed in numerous movies, television series and a Broadway show depicting the sinking.

References

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External links and references

  1. ↑ Benjamin Guggenheim; findagrave.com
  2. ↑ Davis, John H. (1978/1994). The Guggenheims: An American Epic. New York City, New York. Shapolsky Publishers Inc. Books. Page 61. Print.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ “Mines and Mills.” Leadville Daily Herald, May 7, 1884. Accessed September 11, 2016. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org,
  5. ↑ Davis, John H. (1978/1994). Page 201. Print.
  6. ↑ 1885 Leadville City Directory
  7. ↑ White, Carolyn Coleman. "Walking in Ben's Footsteps - Leadville's Guggenheim Home". Colorado Central Magazine. July 1, 2013. https://archive.vn/zy1Qt. Accessed January 1, 2021.
  8. ↑ Davis, John H. (1978/1994). Page 60. Print
  9. ↑ Davis, John H. (1978/1994). Page 61. Print
  10. ↑ Unger, Irwin and Unger, Debi. (2005/2006). The Guggenheims: A Family Portrait. New York City, New York. Harper Perennial. Pages 32-33. Print
  11. ↑ Davis, John H. (1978/1994). Page 110. Print.
  12. ↑ Kucera, Ken. “Revisiting History: Colorado’s Remarkable Mineral Palace”. Colorado School Of Mines. May 1, 2020. Pages 1 to 7. https://www.mines.edu/museumofearthscience/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2020/05/Mineral-Palace_Kucera_MAY-2020-1.pdf. Accessed January 7, 2021.
  13. ↑ Ibid. Page 203. Print.
  14. ↑ "GUGGENHEIM IN MINING CO.; Holtchoff and Loomis-Pettibone Corporation Are Merged". The New York Times. January 1, 1904, Page 5
  15. ↑ “Benjamin Guggenheim: A Biographical Sketch”. Steam, Volume III, Number 4. April 1909. Page 101. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Steam/hSw6AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=benjamin+guggenheim&pg=PA101&printsec=frontcover
  16. ↑ Guggenheim-Seligman : New York Times (1894) – October 25, 1894
  17. ↑ Dearborn, Mary. (2004). Mistress Of Modernism: The Life Of Peggy Guggenheim. New York City, New York. Houghton Mifflin Company. Page 18. Print
  18. ↑ Ibid. Pages 20-22. Print.
  19. ↑ Unger. (2005/2006). Page 65. Print.
  20. ↑ Lord, Walter. (1955/2005). A Night To Remember. New York City, New York. Owl Books. Page 29. Print.
  21. ↑ http://www.reddit.com - accessed 3/27/2014 - The letter was posted for the public to see by Mike Delgado, username md28usmc, on 3/22/2014 asking only that it be translated from French to English.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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