Jane Engelhard (born
Marie Annette Reiss) (1917 - February 29, 2004) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
philanthropistA philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
, best known for her marriage to billionaire industrialist
Charles W. Engelhard, Jr.Charles W. Engelhard, Jr. was an American businessman who controlled an international mining and metals conglomerate and who was also a major owner in Thoroughbred horse racing....
, as well as her donation of an elaborate 18th-century
NeapolitanNeapolitan may refer to:* Neapolitan--of, or pertaining to the city of Naples, Italy and sometimes its wider Duchy or Province of Naples*Previously a nationality, during the time of the Kingdom of Naples or the Neapolitan Republics* Neapolitan cuisine...
crêcheA nativity scene is a depiction of the birth of Jesus as described in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. While the term "nativity scene" typically includes two dimensional depictions in film, painting, printmaking, and other media, the term popularly refers to static, three dimensional, commercial...
to the
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it was built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style and has been the residence of every...
in 1967.
Early life
Born in
Qingdao' , best known in the West by its postal map spelling Tsingtao, is a major city in eastern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It borders Yantai to the northeast, Weifang to the west and Rizhao to the southwest. Lying across the Shandong Peninsula while looking out to the Yellow Sea,...
,
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, she was a daughter of Hugo Reiss (1879-), a German-born Jewish diplomat who served as Brazil's consul in Shanghai, China. Her mother, a Roman Catholic, was Ignatia Mary Murphy (1891-), a native of San Francisco,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
.
She had two sisters, Barry J. Reiss-Brian (died 1970, unmarried) and Huguette Reiss Gerard Hoguet (died 1994, married twice). By her mother's second marriage to Guy L. A. Brian, she had two half-sisters: Marie-Brigitte (1928-, Countess Bernard de La Rochefoucauld) and Patricia (1930-, Madame Jacques Bemberg).
All five daughters were raised as Catholics, with the three Reiss girls spending their infancy and early childhood in
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...
,
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
. After Mary Reiss's marriage to Guy Brian, the family lived in Paris, and Jane graduated from the Convent des Oiseaux, a fashionable Catholic school in
NeuillyNeuilly-sur-Seine is a commune bordering the western limit of the city of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe....
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
; its alumni included the future Vietnamese empress
Nam PhuongMarie-Thérèse Nguyễn Hữu Thị Lan, later Imperial Princess Nam Phương and Empress Nam Phương , was the first and primary wife of Bảo Đại, the last king of Annam and last emperor of Vietnam, from 1934 until her death.She also was the first empress consort of the Nguyễn...
.
First marriage
On 1 June 1939, she married
Fritz MannheimerFritz Mannheimer was a powerful German Jewish banker and art collector who was the director of the Dutch branch of the Berlin-based investment bank Mendelssohn & Co....
(1890-1939), a German Jewish banker and art collector. The director of
Mendelssohn & Co.Mendelssohn & Co. was a private bank residing in Berlin, Germany. During the late 19th and early 20th century it was one of the preeminent banking houses in Europe....
in
AmsterdamAmsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country...
, a branch of a fabled private bank headquartered in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
and known for floating multi-million-dollar loans to various European governments, including that of Germany, he died eight weeks after the wedding, reportedly of a heart attack, on 9 August 1939. The actual cause of Mannheimer's death remains as speculative as its timing was suspicious. One day after his death, the Amsterdam branch announced that it was insolvent and that it was confiscating Mannheimer's art collection, which had been financed with unlimited bank credit. Shortly thereafter, the entire firm was liquidated by the German government.
The couple had one child,
Anne France MannheimerAnnette de la Renta , an American philanthropist and socialite married to the fashion designer Oscar de la Renta.-Birth and childhood:...
(Annette de la Renta) (1939-), who was born after Mannheimer's death.
Second marriage
The founder of Engelhard Minerals and Chemicals, Charles Engelhard, was a well-connected American entrepreneur who had inherited a small metal fabricating company from his father. In the late 1940s, he had journeyed to South Africa to make his fortune. South African mines had a surplus of gold, but government regulations prohibited the exporting of gold bullion from South Africa without permits from the central bank, which were very difficult to obtain. Great Britain, which still controlled the financial affairs of South Africa, wanted to retain as much gold as possible within the sterling bloc. Engelhard found a loophole through that regulation: while it was illegal to export gold bars, it was legal to export objets d'art made of gold. Engelhard formed a company called Precious Metals Development that bought gold from the mines and cast it in the form of statues and other religious items. Engelhard exported these religious objets d'art to Hong Kong, where they were melted down and turned back into gold bullion, which could then be sold on the free market. (This ploy was later used by Ian Fleming, who was a business partner of Engelhard, in his novel Goldfinger)
Jane Mannheimer moved first to
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, then to
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
after her first husband's death. In 1947 she was named vice president of the merchandising division of Holbrook Microfilming Service, a company which was headed by president
John J. RaskobJohn Jakob Raskob, KCSG was a financial executive and businessman for DuPont and General Motors, and the builder of the Empire State Building. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1928 to 1932 and a key supporter of Alfred E. Smith's candidacy for President of the United...
and chairman Lt. Gen. Hugh Drum. She also was a member of Sillman & Associates, through which she was a minor investor in Broadway revues such as "New Shoes" and "Gentlemen Be Seated."
In 1947, she married
Charles W. Engelhard, Jr.Charles W. Engelhard, Jr. was an American businessman who controlled an international mining and metals conglomerate and who was also a major owner in Thoroughbred horse racing....
(1917-1971), a multimillionaire minerals industrialist from
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, and to the east by the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill, Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, Westchester County, New York City, Long Island, and...
. The couple lived in Far Hills,
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, and to the east by the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill, Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, Westchester County, New York City, Long Island, and...
, where they raised golden retrievers and
thoroughbredThe Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word "thoroughbred" is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
race horses, including the fabled
Triple Crown of Thoroughbred RacingThe Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing consists of three races for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a Thoroughbred racehorse...
champion,
NijinskyThe racehorse Nijinsky was a son of Northern Dancer and Flaming Page, both winners of the Queen's Plate, and a great-grandson of Nearco and Bull Lea...
. They had numerous homes, including Cragwood, a 1920s neo-Georgian mansion in New Jersey, a country house in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
, and residences in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
,
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
,
MaineThe State of Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, New Hampshire to the southwest, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is the northernmost portion of...
, Nantucket,
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, and
Quebec'sQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
Gaspé PeninsulaThe Gaspésie or also Gaspé Peninsula or the Gaspé is a peninsula constituting part of the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River, in Quebec, Canada...
.
The Engelhards had four daughters: Susan Engelhard, Jane Elizabeth Sophia Engelhard,
Sally Alexandra EngelhardSally Engelhard Pingree is an American philanthropist and a daughter of the industrialist Charles W. Engelhard, Jr. and his wife, Jane...
, and
Charlene B. EngelhardCharlene Engelhard Troy is an American philanthropist and daughter of industrialist Charles W. Engelhard, Jr. and his wife, Jane Charlene Engelhard Troy is an American philanthropist and daughter of industrialist Charles W. Engelhard, Jr. and his wife, Jane Charlene Engelhard Troy is an American...
. Charles Engelhard also adopted his wife's daughter from her first marriage.
Philanthropy
Jane Engelhard was a patron of numerous causes and institutions, including the New Jersey Symphony. She served on the Boards the
Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, known colloquially as The Met, is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile in New York City, USA. It has a permanent collection containing more than two million works of art, divided into nineteen curatorial...
and the
Morgan LibraryThe Morgan Library & Museum is a museum and research library in New York City, USA. It was founded to house the private library of J. P. Morgan in 1906, which included, besides the manuscripts and printed books, some of them in rare bindings, his collection of prints and drawings...
for many years. She also was a member of the Fine Arts Committee of the White House, organized during the Kennedy administration; the decoration of the Small State Dining Room is among her reported contributions to the restoration of the White House. In 1977, Engelhard was the first woman appointed as a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. She was also a member of the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board and a recipient of the
Legion d'honneurThe Légion d'honneur or Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
.
Sources
- "Fritz Mannheimer, Financier, Is Dead," The New York Times, 11 August 1939, page 19.
- "Action Follows Shortly After Mannheimer's Death–House Granted Government Loans," The New York Times, 12 August 1939, page 1.
- "Mendelssohn Lost Heavily on Bonds; Huge Fortune of Mannheimer Is Believed to Have Been Lost in His Operations ," The New York Times, 14 August 1939, page 7.
- "Trustees Named for Mendelssohn," The New York Times, 15 August 1939, page 32.
- "Holland Unmoved by Bank's Crisis," The New York Times, 21 August 1939, page 23.
- "Daladier Testifies in War Guilt Court," The New York Times, 23 September 1940, page 5.
- "Met Painting Traced to Nazis," The New York Times, 24 November 1987, page C19.
- "Records at the Met Disprove Charge of Acquiring 5 Paintings Improperly," The New York Times, 25 November 1987, C11.
- "Post-War Story," Time, 21 August 1939.
- Brief biography of Mannheimer