Isidor Straus

Isidor Straus was born in February 1845 in Otterberg, Germany. He was born into a relatively upper-class family. His father was a merchant and landowner, and under political persecution, he immigrated to the US in 1852. Straus' father was an itinerant merchant for a while, traveling the South, but he finally established a mercantile in Georgia. Straus' father sent for the rest of the family in 1854, and from the beginning, Isidor (the oldest child) was responsible for family and business affairs.

Straus got his education in Georgia's public schools, and wanted to go to West Point, but the Civil War prevented him from doing so. During that time, he worked first in the family business, then a local group sent him on a ship-buying and blockade-running expedition to Europe. The plan was quickly scrapped, and Straus was stuck in London with all the money he had in the world ($1200 in gold). He found work in a Liverpool office, staying there for half a year before he began trading bonds on the London and Amsterdam markets. He returned to America with twelve thousand dollars and set up a crockery importing business with his father.

The business was very successful, and Straus' brother Nathan decided to expand their reach by adding their product to existing department stores. They bought R.H. Macy's basement in 1874, and soon accounted for ten percent of the store's total business. Other outlets opened in Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia, and the Straus family bought European and American factories. The two brothers began a Macy's partnership in 1888, taking over sole ownership in 1896. Isidor totally reorganized the store, and under his diligent management, Macy's became one of the biggest department stores in the world.

Straus put an emphasis on advertising, the use of novelty prices, and underselling the competition. From 1893-1919, the Straus brothers also owned another department store in Brooklyn, and both stores cooperated in buying, food and drug processing, and information exchange. Isidor Straus was a friend of US President Grover Cleveland, and a Democrat, but he left the party with the adoption of free silver. He worked for the Cleveland campaign in 1892; he was offered a job as Postmaster General, but declined the position. Straus served as a congressman for one term, but refused a second nomination. He worked in many charities, and was a founding member of the American Jewish Committee. He passed away when the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912.