Abraham Haas

Abraham Haas (1847 – August 8, 1921) was an American businessman, co-founder of Hellman, Haas & Co. (later Haas, Baruch & Co., which ultimately merged with Smart & Final), and patriarch of the Haas family, the primary shareholders of Levi Strauss & Co.

Biography Haas was born to a Jewish family in Reckendorf, Kingdom of Bavaria in 1847 and immigrated to Portland, Oregon at the age of 16 where he worked at a grocery store founded by his cousins, Charles, Samuel, and Kalman Haas. He then moved to Los Angeles where he co-founded the retail drug and grocery store, Hellman, Haas & Co. with his brother, Jacob Haas, and partners, Herman W. Hellman (brother of banker Isaias W. Hellman) and Bernard Cohn (later the Mayor of Los Angeles). Haas became one of the leading philanthropists in the city at the time. a nephew of Levi Strauss, and granddaughter of David Stern), Ruth Haas Lilienthal (1891-1975) (married Philip N. Lilienthal Jr., son of banker Philip N. Lilienthal and grandson of rabbi Max Lilienthal), and Eleanor Haas Koshland (1900-1959) (married her cousin Daniel E. Koshland Sr., the son of her maternal uncle, Marcus Koshland).