Background
Weitz was born on March 25, 1923, in Berlin, Germany, the son of Robert Salomon "Bobby" Weitz, a successful textile manufacturer, and Hedwig "Hedy" Jacob. The household was Jewish in ancestry and culture, but not religious.
69 Belsize Park, London NW3 4EH, United Kingdom
Weitz learned from his father and also from fashion modernist Edward Molyneaux in London. He attended The Hall School from 1933 to 1936
Lonsdale Rd, Barnes, London SW13 9JT, United Kingdom
Weitz attended St. Paul's School from 1936 to 1939.
Oxford OX1 2JD, United Kingdom
Weitz eventually attended Oxford University for one year.
(This first full-length English-language biography of Joac...)
This first full-length English-language biography of Joachim von Ribbentrop, Adolf Hitler's notorious foreign minister, is also an authoritative account of the social and political workings of Nazi Germany. The result of a lifetime of research and firsthand experience, the book combines narrative history of the highest order and intimate familiarity with the people, events, and social currents that animated Hitler's regime.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395621526/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i3
1992
historian writer fashion designer
Weitz was born on March 25, 1923, in Berlin, Germany, the son of Robert Salomon "Bobby" Weitz, a successful textile manufacturer, and Hedwig "Hedy" Jacob. The household was Jewish in ancestry and culture, but not religious.
Weitz learned from his father and also from fashion modernist Edward Molyneaux in London. He attended The Hall School from 1933 to 1936 and St. Paul's School from 1936 to 1939. Weitz eventually attended Oxford University for one year. After attending schools in London, he and his family moved to the United States in the late 1930's.
In 1938, Weitz' parents left Nazi Germany to live in Paris, then London, eventually relocating to New York City. The Weitz family immigrated to the United States via Yokohama, Japan, and Shanghai, China, where many refugee Jews stayed while trying to get to the United States, from their last permanent residence in London. They arrived in Seattle, Washington, in April 1941.
During World War II, Weitz served with the Office of Strategic Services in Germany. He then returned to New York City and worked as a designer of women's sportswear. Weitz gained experience at various clothing companies before founding John Weitz Designs in 1954, where he built a reputation for designing active wear for men and introduced the "European cut" dress shirt. With a keen sense of marketing, Weitz also was the first designer in the United States to aggressively license his company's name to products such as men's cologne, housewares, and even sewing patterns.
Winning the Coty Award, the most prestigious prize in the fashion industry, in 1974, Weitz felt he had brought his company far enough along that he no longer had to actively run the business. He stepped back to let others take charge while he turned his attention to writing books. His first published work was the novel The Value of Nothing in 1970, which was followed by several more books, including works about Nazi Germany such as Hitler's Diplomat: The Life and Times of Joachim von Ribbentrop and Hitler's Banker: Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht. At the time of his death Weitz was finishing a rewrite of a novel about German boxer Max Schmeling.
(This first full-length English-language biography of Joac...)
1992(The book examines the life of the president of the Reichs...)
1997Weitz was married three times. His first marriage, from 1944 to 1953, was to Sally Blauner Gould. He had married Blauner when he was 20 years old. The couple had a daughter and a son with Gould: Karen Weitz Curtis and Robert Weitz. In 1964, Weitz separated from his second wife, Eve Orton, who was a fashion editor.
In 1964, Weitz met actress Susan Kohner in Palm Beach, Florida, and they got married the same year. They had two sons: directors Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz.