biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1862–1932)
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| biography:
| Merchant and business executive, and philanthropist, born in Springfield, Illinois, USA. He was born across the street from Abraham Lincoln's house and was influenced by the Lincoln mystique. He ran a menswear shop in Chicago (1885–95), and when the recently formed Sears, Roebuck & Co moved to Chicago (1893), he became its vice-president (1895–1910), president (1910–25), and chairman of the board (1925–32). He built it up to become America's largest retail store, pioneering in the mail-order business, and creating one of the first savings and profit-sharing plans for employees. He greatly prospered, and by 1917 had set up the Julius Rosenwald Fund for the ‘well-being of mankind’. In the following years he gave generously to causes of all kinds, but especially to Jewish groups in Russia, to Germany after World War 1, and to African-American Young Men's Christian Associations and to schools in the S USA. |
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