John Simon Guggenheim was an American businessman, politician and philanthropist.
Background
Guggenheim was born on December 30, 1867, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He and his twin brother, Robert (who died in his ninth year), were the seventh and eighth of the eleven children of Meyer Guggenheim and Barbara (Myers) Guggenheim. Among Simon's five older brothers was Daniel Guggenheim. Their father, who had emigrated in 1847 from one of Switzerland's two small Jewish ghettos, had advanced rapidly, in Philadelphia, from peddler to manufacturer to commission merchant and then to importer of fine lace. By the time of Simon's birth he was wealthy, and during the next two decades he embarked on the mining and smelting ventures which, under the direction of his sons, were to amass the largest fortune ever made from mining - about $500, 000, 000 by 1920.
Education
Simon received his education in the public schools of Philadelphia and at the Pierce School of Business there, and then spent some time in Spain learning Spanish, a useful tool in his ore-scouting ventures for the family firm.
Career
In 1888 Guggenheim became chief ore buyer for M. Guggenheim's Sons and settled in Pueblo, Colorado, moving to Denver in 1892. When, in 1901, the Guggenheims gained a controlling interest in the American Smelting and Refining Company, Simon became a member of the board of directors and was appointed the company's treasurer and Western representative. Meanwhile Guggenheim had sought to bring a new dimension of influence to the family by entering Colorado politics. In 1896 he persuaded the Silver Republicans to nominate him for lieutenant governor, but his name was withdrawn when it was learned that at twenty-nine he was under the constitutional age for that post. Two years later the National People's Party, a coalition of Silver Republicans and moderate Populists, picked Guggenheim as their candidate for governor. But his brothers argued that his running as a free-silverite might damage the family's ties with Eastern sound-money conservatives; the Colorado press was hostile (it had recently portrayed him as an Eastern Jewish monopolist), and Simon, sensing that he could not win, withdrew before the election. His ambitions persisted, however, and in 1904 he opened a political office in Denver. Early in 1907 the Colorado legislature elected him to the United States Senate as a Republican. Colorado newspapers charged that he had purchased his seat, but this was true only in the sense that his lavish donations to Republican party coffers had given him useful political leverage. Guggenheim's record in the Senate was not especially distinguished. He spent much of his time promoting Colorado tourism, seeking federal projects for his state, and satisfying constituents' requests for favors. He endorsed the popular election of Senators, voted for the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, and supported the establishment of the Children's Bureau, but participated in an unsuccessful filibuster against the creation of the Department of Labor. On at least one occasion he sought to aid the family interests. The Guggenheims and J. P. Morgan in 1906 had formed a syndicate to mine copper in Alaska. To provide a ready source of fuel for its railroad, the syndicate illegally bought up individual land claims in Alaska's coal region, a transaction in which Richard Ballinger, later President Taft's Secretary of the Interior, acted as counsel for the sellers. Guggenheim left the Senate in 1913, having previously declared that he would not seek another term. He then assumed three top executive positions in the New York headquarters of the family business. In 1919, when his brother Daniel retired, Simon succeeded him as president of the American Smelting and Refining Company, a position he held until his death. In later life Guggenheim took an increasing interest in philanthropy. The early death of his older son in April 1922, following a mastoid operation, prompted the former Senator and his wife to establish the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation with an initial gift of $3, 000, 000. Planned in consultation with two former Rhodes scholars, President Frank Aydelotte of Swarthmore College and Henry Allen Moe, and incorporated in 1925, the foundation granted fellowships in arts, sciences, and humanities to young individuals of proven ability. The terms of the grants were flexible, and the recipients were never pressured to produce specific results. Guggenheim and his wife added $1, 000, 000 to the foundation in 1929 to establish Latin American Exchange Fellowships and several millions more by 1941, and in his will he named the foundation the residual legatee of his wealth. Guggenheim died of pneumonia on November 2, 1941, in Mount Sinai Hospital and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City.
Achievements
Guggenheim was a member of a wealthy and influential Guggenheim family, who is chiefly remembered for establishing the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
Religion
Although proud of his Jewish heritage, Guggenheim adhered to no religious organization.
Membership
President of the American Smelting and Refining Company (1919-1941)
Personality
Guggenheim was a small man with heavy features and dark, deepset, world-weary eyes.
Connections
On November 24, 1898, Guggenheim married Olga Hirsch, daughter of a New York real estate operator. They had two sons: John Simon and George Denver.
Father:
Meyer Guggenheim
He was the patriarch of what became known as the Guggenheim family.
Mother:
Barbara Guggenheim
Spouse:
Olga Hirsh
Brother:
Daniel Guggenheim
He was an American mining magnate and philanthropist.
