Marcus Goldman
Marcus Goldman | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date Trappstadt, Kingdom of Bavaria |
| Died | July 20, 1904 (aged 82) Elberon, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Investment banker, entrepreneur, financier |
| Known for | Founder of Goldman Sachs |
Marcus Goldman (originally Marcus Goldmann; December 9, 1821 – July 20, 1904) was a German-American investment banker, entrepreneur, and financier. He is recognized as the founder of Goldman Sachs, which has grown into one of the globe’s leading investment banks.
Early life
Born on December 9, 1821, in Trappstadt, within the Kingdom of Bavaria, Marcus Goldman hailed from an Ashkenazi Jewish lineage. His father, Wolf Goldmann, worked as a farmer and livestock trader, while his mother, Bella Katz Oberbrunner, was a widow with five children from an earlier marriage. The family surname was changed from Marx to Goldmann by his paternal grandfather in 1811 when Jews were permitted to adopt fixed surnames. During his youth in Bavaria, Goldman attended synagogue classes in Würzburg, where he forged a lasting friendship with Joseph Sachs. Before emigrating, he was employed as a schoolteacher.
In 1848, amid the initial significant wave of Jewish migration following the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, Goldman left Frankfurt am Main, Germany, for the United States. Upon arrival, his name was anglicized to Marcus Goldman. He later wed Bertha Goldman (not related), herself a Jewish immigrant.
Career
Goldman’s career commenced as a peddler using a horse-drawn cart and subsequently as a retailer in Philadelphia. He initially rented quarters previously occupied by his friend Joseph Sachs before launching a clothing shop on Market Street. In 1869, pursuing expanded prospects, he relocated to New York City and inaugurated "Marcus Goldman & Co." on Pine Street in lower Manhattan, focusing on brokering IOUs.
In the early stages, Goldman handled commercial paper transactions amounting to as much as $5 million annually. Although prosperous, his enterprise remained smaller than contemporaries such as J. & W. Seligman & Co., which possessed $6 million in working capital in 1869 and were engaged extensively in railroad bond underwriting.
The business evolved in 1882 when Goldman incorporated his son-in-law Samuel Sachs into the partnership, renaming it M. Goldman and Sachs. This expansion increased the firm’s annual paper volume to $30 million and raised its capital base to $100,000. For nearly five decades, all partners originated from interrelated families. By 1885, Marcus had brought his son Henry and son-in-law Ludwig Dreyfuss into junior partnership roles, adopting the name Goldman Sachs & Co. Henry Sachs became part of the firm in 1894, followed by its admission to the New York Stock Exchange in 1896.
Following Goldman's retirement, management transitioned to his son Henry Goldman and son-in-law Samuel Sachs. In 1904, Arthur and Paul Sachs—sons of Samuel—joined after completing their education at Harvard University.
Personal life and death
Marcus Goldman married Bertha Goldman, also an immigrant from Germany; together they had five children. Their youngest daughter Louisa’s marriage to Samuel Sachs united two notable immigrant families. Additional familial alliances connected the Goldmans with prominent individuals such as Samuel Adler.
Goldman passed away during the summer of 1904 in Elberon, New Jersey.
See also
Further reading
External links
- Articles with short description
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 1821 births
- 1904 deaths
- American bankers
- American financiers
- American people of German-Jewish descent
- Bankers from New York City
- Businesspeople from New York City
- Chairmen of Goldman Sachs
- Chief Executive Officers of Goldman Sachs
- Emigrants from Bavaria to the United States
- German Ashkenazi Jews
- Jewish American bankers
- People from Rhön-Grabfeld
- 19th-century American businesspeople