Guggenheim, Meyer and Daniel

Guggenheim, Meyer and Daniel

(born Feb. 1, 1828, Langnau, Switz.—died March 15, 1905, Palm Beach, Fla., U.S.) (born July 9, 1856, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died Sept. 28, 1930, Port Washington, N.Y.) U.S. industrialists, father and son, who developed worldwide mining interests that yielded a vast fortune. Meyer immigrated to the U.S. in 1847 and built an import firm specializing in Swiss embroideries. His investments in two Colorado copper mines in the 1880s were the foundation of extensive mining interests. His seven sons, especially Daniel, built a large organization of smelting and refining operations. In 1901 the Guggenheims merged their holdings with the American Smelting and Refining Co., a trust composed of the country's largest metal-processing plants. Daniel directed the trust until 1919 and acquired mines throughout the world. Philanthropies include the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1925), which awards fellowships to artists and scholars studying abroad, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (1937), which oversees New York City's Guggenheim Museum and the Guggenheim Collection in Venice. See also Solomon Guggenheim.