James Speyer

James Joseph Speyer (July 22, 1861 – October 31, 1941) was an American Wall Street banker and head Speyer & Co. until its closure in 1939. Speyer was actively involved with many social, educational and cultural organizations in New York City. The House of Speyer was the third largest investment banking firm at its peak in 1913, when it managed $2.443 billion, the equivalent of $ billion.

Biography Speyer was born to a Jewish family from Germany, the son of Gustav Speyer. He was educated in Frankfurt, and entered the Frankfurt branch of the Speyer family's banking house, Lazard Speyer-Ellissen, in 1883. He was subsequently connected with the Paris and London branches of the firm before returning to New York in 1885 to join Speyer & Co., the branch of the family firm there. He became the head of the family firm in 1899 and was an officer in many other banks and trust companies. In 1897, he married Ellin Lowery. Speyer also worked alongside J. P. Morgan (Burlington Northern Railroad) and William K. Vanderbilt (New York Central Railroad), and worked with rail interests in Mexico, London, and the Philippines.

Speyer also helped to found the Economic Club of New York in 1907 and the American Museum of Safety in 1911. He was one of the founders of the University Settlement Society of New York, the first settlement house in the United States. As treasurer he raised funds for the Society's building which was erected in 1895 and he later served as the Society's president. During World War I, Speyer and his wife formed the Aqueduct Guard Citizen's Committee to aid the troops guarding the Croton Aqueduct from the Catskills to New York City. Much of this activity was centered at Waldheim, their country home at Scarborough-on-Hudson, along which property ran a portion of that aqueduct. (The estate was sold in 1947, and subdivided into building lots for modest-priced single-family homes; while the original buildings no longer exist, a large part of the original property was home to the US headquarters of Philips Research, from 1965 to 2015.) Speyer was also the initiator and founder of the Museum of the City of New York. Among the other philanthropic and civic organizations served by Speyer were the Ellin Prince Speyer Hospital for Animals (founded in 1910 by Mrs. Speyer), the United Hospital Fund and the New York World's Fair Finance Committee. In 1937, Speyer received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York."

Speyer was an active opponent of prohibition, and was an officer in the Association Against Prohibition. This interest interfered with his work on behalf of the Salvation Army, which was unalterably opposed to liquor in any form.