Isaac Fuld: Early Jewish Pioneer Merchant and Synagogue Organizer of St. Louis, Missouri

Isaac Fuld

Values Codes I – E – L – P

 

Isaac Fuldwas born in 1834, in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany.

 

St. Louis

In 1853, at the age of 19, Isaac Fuld settled in St. Louis, Missouri.

He founded the clothing firm, FuldGoodwin Mercantile Company.

 

Civic

Isaac Fuld was an early supporter of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra,the second-oldest symphony orchestra in the United States.

In 1960, Fuld, a staunch Republican, met the future President Abraham Lincoln at the St. Nicholas Hotel in Illinois.

 

Community

When he arrived in St. Louis, Isaac Fuld joined Congregation B’nai El, an Orthodox synagogue.

In 1865, Fuld helped found Shaare Emeth Temple.

This “Reform Judaism” organization got its roots from Isaac Hoffheimer and Isaac Fuld as “The Temple Association” and later, “The Temple Building Association.” 

 

Fraternal

Fuld was a member of Missouri Lodge B’nai B’rith.

 

Family

Isaac Fuld married Babette Pfeiffer, in 1863.

 

Isaac Fuld died in 1925.

He is buried in the New Mount Sinai Cemetery and Mausoleum in St. Louis.

Babette Pfeiffer died in 1904­.

 

*Isaac Fuld  of St. Louis is not to be confused with Isaac Fuld of Baltimore, who invented and marketed the Ouija Board.

Sources

  • Walter Ehrlich, Zion in the Valley: The Jewish Community of St. Louis, Volume 1 (Columbia, Mo: University of Missouri Press, 1997).
  • Ellen Jane Freund Schwartz, Freund Family Chronicles (St. Louis, MO: 1992).

Samantha Silver is curator of this Isaac Fuld exhibit.