Background
Bobst was born in Lititz, Pennsylvania.
Businessman chairman manager philanthropist
Bobst was born in Lititz, Pennsylvania.
He aspired to become a doctor, but instead, he taught himself pharmacology. When Bobst retired from the company in 1944, he was one of the nation"s highest paid corporate executives. In 1945 he took charge of the ailing William Warner Company (later Warner–Lambert) and he remained board chairman.
In 1968, Bobst became a White House advisor on health issues.
Philanthropic pursuits were also important to Bobst, particularly cancer research and education. Mamdouha Bobst died in 2015.
She had been the subject of controversy due to her large donations to relatively unknown Islamic charities. Elmer Holmes Bobst was also known as an anti-Semite, writing in a letter to Nixon, “Jews have troubled the world from the very beginning.
If this beloved country of ours ever falls apart, the blame rightly should be attributed to the malicious action of Jews in complete control of our communications.”
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
Bobst gave $11 million towards the completion and opening of New York University"s Bobst Library.
Opened on September 12, 1973, the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, is the main library and anchor building at New York University. Located at the Southeast corner of Washington Square Park, it is named after its benefactor. Bobst was a long time trustee at New York University.
In April 1961 Bobst married Mamdouha As-Sayyid, who was a member of the Lebanese delegation to the United Nations, and decades his junior.
