1. Joseph Herman Hirshhorn was an entrepreneur, financier, and art collector.
10 Facts About Joseph Hirshhorn
1. 2.
Joseph Hirshhorn went to work as an office boy on Wall Street at age 14.
3.
Joseph Hirshhorn made his fortune in the mining and oil business.
4.
From 1961 to 1976, Joseph Hirshhorn lived in a three-story Norman chateau in a 22-acre estate at the summit of Round Hill, a 550-foot rise in north-central Greenwich, Connecticut, with a view of the Manhattan skyline.
5.
When Joseph Hirshhorn began to make money, he began to buy art, both paintings and sculpture.
6.
Joseph Hirshhorn amassed a collection of paintings and sculptures from the 19th and 20th centuries.
7.
Joseph Hirshhorn allowed many nonprofit groups to use tours of his sculpture garden for fundraising.
8.
In 1966 Joseph Hirshhorn donated much of his collection, consisting of 6,000 paintings and sculptures from the 19th and 20th centuries, to the United States government, along with a $2 million endowment.
9.
Joseph Hirshhorn was investigated by the Ontario Securities Commission, convicted twice of breaking Canadian foreign exchange laws, deported from Canada for illegal stock manipulation, and fined for an illegal securities sale and illegally smuggling cash out of Canada.
10.
Joseph Hirshhorn remained married to her until his death in 1981.