Julius Rosenwald was born August 12, 1862, in Springfield, Ill. His father, Samuel, had traveled to Springfield several years earlier to run a clothing store for his wife's family. In 1885, Rosenwald teamed up with a cousin, Julius Weil, to manufacture men's clothing.

Julius Rosenwald: The Man Who Built Sears, Roebuck and Advanced the Cause of Black Education in the American South (Philanthropic and Nonprofit Studies) [Peter M. Ascoli] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. In this richly revealing biography of a major, but little-known, American businessman and philanthropist

But this is the Julius Rosenwald story. And the story of “Sears Roebuck,” which began in 1885 with Richard Warren Sears, an ambitious local railroad stationmaster in North Redwood Falls, Minnesota. When a COD shipment of watches was refused by a jewelry company that year, Sears bought the lot.

The massive Sears, Roebuck warehouse operation conceived by Julius Rosenwald helped revolutionize the way the company did business. That Chicago warehouse was three blocks long, a block wide and...

“A richly revealing biography of a major, but little-known, American businessman and philanthropist, Julius Rosenwald, the son of German-Jewish immigrants who went on the fashion the greatest mail order firm in the world and found the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

Julius Rosenwald, who was born in 1862 while Abraham Lincoln was president, in a house just one block from the liberator’s own home in Springfield, Illinois, eventually played his own towering part in reinforcing the unity of America, elevating its black citizenry, and moving the nation closer to fulfilling the promises of its founding.

Julius Rosenwald, (born August 12, 1862, Springfield, Illinois, U.S.—died January 6, 1932, Chicago), American merchant and unorthodox philanthropist who opposed the idea of perpetual endowments and frequently offered large philanthropic gifts on condition that they be matched by other donations. He was especially noted for his aid to the education of blacks.

Julius Rosenwald (1862–1932) was born to a German immigrant family. He became a clothier by trade after learning the business from relatives in New York City . His first business went bankrupt, but another he began in Chicago, Illinois became a leading supplier to the growing business of Richard Warren Sears , Sears, Roebuck, and Company, a mail-order business that served many rural Americans.

Sears, Roebuck and Company, colloquially known as Sears, is a chain of department stores founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in 1893, reincorporated (a formality for a history-making consumer sector initial public offering) by Richard Sears and new partner Julius Rosenwald in 1906.