Antanas Olšauskas

Antanas Olšauskas (June 13, 1863 – May 10, 1942) was a Lithuanian American businessman. He was the publisher of the Lithuanian weekly newspaper Lietuva and founder of A. Olszewski Bank.

Orphaned at an early age, Olšauskas did not receive any formal education. He worked as a carpenter before emigrating to the United States at the age of 25. He managed to get a job at a Polish printing press. In 1893, he took over the struggling Lithuanian weekly newspaper Lietuva and turned it around. It became a popular liberal periodical. He then established A. Olszewski Bank which served the Lithuanian American community. It became successful and customer deposits peaked at $1 million. Olšauskas used customer deposits to build offices and open other business ventures (Theater Milda, clothing shop, car dealership, residential real estate). A bank run in 1916 forced him to sell these businesses and liquidate the bank. However, he was able to raise capital and establish the Universal State Bank in 1917. After quarrels with the new leadership of the Universal State Bank, Olšauskas resigned in 1919. He then made a modest living selling ship tickets and insurance.

Biography Early life Olšauskas was born on June 13, 1863, in , a small village near Liudvinavas, to a family of petty Lithuanian nobles. He was orphaned at the age of four and his family's farm was sold to pay debts. He was raised by his maternal grandparents who taught him to read. Olšauskas never received any formal education. Due to poor health, he could not perform hard physical labor and searched for better means of living. He learned carpentry and worked to construct furniture, repair church altars, etc. For two years, he worked to restore the Catholic church in Krasnopol. In 1889, having saved 300 rubles, Olšauskas decided to emigrate to the United States.

Publisher of Lietuva He arrived to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in April 1889. He tried to pursue carpentry, but could not get a better job due to poor English language skills. Olšauskas was inspired by the example of two Lithuanian businessmen who published the Lithuanian newspaper Vienybė lietuvininkų and pursued jobs at emigrant publishing houses. Eventually, he was hired by the Polish Gazeta Polska published in Chicago. He also worked for and Reforma.