Levi Strauss was born in Buttenheim, Germany on February 26, 1829 to Hirsch Strauss and his second wife, Rebecca Haas Strauss. Hirsch, a dry goods peddler, already had five children with his first wife, who had died a few years earlier: Jacob, Jonas, Louis, Rosla and Mathilde. Levi - named "Loeb" at birth - and his older sister Fanny were the last of the Strauss children.
There is no information about his education.
When news of the California Gold Rush made its way east, Levi decided to emigrate to San Francisco to make his fortune: not by panning gold, but by selling supplies to the throngs of miners who arrived daily in the big city to outfit themselves before heading off to the gold fields. In January of 1853 he became an American citizen, and in March he arrived in bustling, noisy San Francisco, establishing a dry-goods business under his own name and also serving as the West Coast representative of the family’s New York firm. In 1863 the company was renamed “Levi Strauss & Co.” Then, in 1866 Levi moved the headquarters to larger quarters at 14-16 Battery Street, where it remained for the next forty years. The Eastern sales office remained with Jonas Strauss in New York.
In his mid-thirties, Levi was already a well-known figure around the city. He was active in the business and cultural life of San Francisco, and actively supported the Jewish community. He was a contributor to the gold medal given annually to the best Sabbath School student.
He knew that demand would be great for these riveted "waist overalls" (the old name for jeans), so Levi brought Jacob Davis to San Francisco to oversee the first West Coast manufacturing facility. Initially, Davis supervised the cutting of the blue denim material and its delivery to individual seamstresses who worked out of their homes. But the demand for overalls made it impossible to maintain this system, and factories on Fremont and Market Streets were opened.
Levi had been a charter member and treasurer of the San Francisco Board of Trade since 1877. He was a director of the Nevada Bank, the Liverpool, London and Globe Insurance Company and the San Francisco Gas and Electric Company. In 1875 Levi and two associates purchased the Mission and Pacific Woolen Mills from the estate of former silver millionaire William Ralston. Much of the mill's fabric was used to make the Levi Strauss & Co. "blanket-lined" pants and coats.
Levi Strauss died on September 26, 1902 in San Francisco, California, United States. He left his company to his four nephews.
Levi Strauss was famous as the founder of the first company to manufacture blue jeans Levi Strauss & Co. His estate amounted to nearly $6 million. He was also famous for the charity activity, namely, he donated to the University of California, Berkeley, contributed to the Pacific Hebrew Orphan Asylum and Home, the Eureka Benevolent Society and the Hebrew Board of Relief. Besides, he provided funds to build a new railroad from San Francisco to the San Joaquin Valley.
He belonged to Temple Emanu-El, the city's first synagogue.
Quotations: "I am a bachelor and I fancy on that account I need to work more, for my entire life is my business. I don’t believe that a man who once forms the habit of being busy can retire and be contented. My happiness lies in my routine work. I do not think large fortunes cause happiness to their owners, for immediately those who possess them become slaves to their wealth. They must devote their lives to caring for their possessions. I don’t think money brings friends to its owners. In fact, often the result is quite the contrary."
Quotes from others about the person
San Francisco Board of Trade: "...the great causes of education and charity have likewise suffered a signal loss in the death of Mr. Strauss, whose splendid endowments to the University of California will be an enduring testimonial of his worth as a liberal, public-minded citizen and whose numberless unostentatious acts of charity in which neither race nor creed were recognized, exemplified his broad and generous love for and sympathy with humanity."
Levi never married, and left the business to his four nephews, Jacob, Sigmund, Louis, and Abraham Stern, the sons of his sister Fanny and her husband David Stern.
