Robert Lehman was born to a Jewish family in New York City.
13 Facts About Robert Lehman
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Robert Lehman was the son of Philip Lehman and grandson of Emanuel Lehman, a cofounder of Lehman Brothers investment bank, and Carrie Lauer.
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Robert Lehman graduated from Hotchkiss School in 1908 and was a 1913 graduate of Yale University and member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
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When his father retired in 1925, "Bobbie" Robert Lehman assumed the leadership role of the family-owned business.
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Robert Lehman took over the bank during a time when Lehman Brothers, like its competitors Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, was essentially a one-office firm.
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Robert Lehman understood that to maximize Lehman Brothers' growth he needed additional investor capital.
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Robert Lehman understood too that the right partners could expand the company's opportunities through interlocking directorships.
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And, when Lehman put together start-up financing for Paramount Pictures, John D Hertz would be their connection on Paramount's board.
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Robert Lehman guided his company through the perils of the stock-market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression of the 1930s.
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Robert Lehman was a thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder who had five horses compete in the Kentucky Derby.
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For six decades, Robert Lehman built upon an art collection that his father began at their 7 West 54th Street house in 1911.
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Robert Lehman devoted a great deal of time and energy as a long-time member of the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and finally becoming the first chairman of the board at the Metropolitan in the 1960s.
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Robert Lehman died August 9,1969 and is interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York City.