Solomon Hirsch
Values Codes: I-H-E-L-P
“Solomon Hirsch was a man of ideals. Man of affairs though he was, he did not permit himself to become the servant of his business, or the slave of his possessions. He remained master of himself and all that he possessed.
“Virtue he pursued and knowledge high; with him the two were closely allied, for in his life to know was to do.
“Virtue he pursued from the beginning unto the end of his days and knowledge high through all his busy, crowded life, with the ardor of a youthful lover.
-Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, eulogy, 1902
Solomon Hirsch was born Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, in 1839.
His parents were Samson and Ella Hirsch.
Solomon Hirsch of Portland, Oregon
Solomon Hirsch came to New York in 1854, at the age of 15.
Along the way . . . .
Solomon Hirsch worked as a traveling salesman in New Haven, Connecticut and Rochester, New York.
Oregon
Solomon Hirsch arrived in Portland by way of Panama Isthmus, in 1858.
He ran a store in The Dallas, Oregon until 1861
With Jacob Mayer and Louis Fleischner, Solomon Hirsch was one of the founders of Fleischner, Mayer & Company the largest wholesale dry good company in the Pacific Northwest serving Oregon, Washington, Idaho & Montana.
Civic
Solomon Hirsch was a champion of the Portland Chamber of Commerce.
He was also a Life Member of the Portland Library Association.
Solomon Hirsch was Chairman of the Oregon Republican Central Committee, 1882 & 1886
Solomon Hirsch served in the Oregon State Senate for 20 years, and was President of the Oregon State Senate during the 1880 session.
Solomon Hirsch served as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Ottoman Empire from 1889-1892.
Community
Solomon Hirsch served as President of Congregation Beth Israel.
Fraternal
Solomon Hirsch was a prominent Mason.
Family
Solomon Hirsch married Josephine Mayer, in 1870.
Together they had four children: Ella, Sanford, May, and Clementine.
Josephine Mayer Hirsch became the leader of the Portland Equal Suffrage League.
Solomon Hirsch died in 1902.
He is buried at Beth Israel Cemetery in Portland.
Legacy
Solomon Hirsch’s brother, Edward, served as Oregon State Treasurer.
Daughter, Ella, bequeathed $853,000 ($12,000,000 in today’s currency) to the Portland Art Museum in 1939.
Hirsch Memorial Wing of Portland Art Museum
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Hirsch
https://books.google.com/books?pg=PA144&id=XvYUAAAAYAAJ#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jtenlen/ORBios/shirsch.html
http://Politicalgraveyard.com
Gladys Sturman is our Curator for this Soloman Hirsch Virtual Exhibit.
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