Jules Bache

Jules Semon Bache (November 9, 1861 – March 24, 1944) was an American banker, art collector and philanthropist. Early life Jules Bache was born into a Jewish family in New York City. His father, Semon Bache [né Bach], emigrated to the United States from his native Nuremberg, Bavaria, settling in New York City, where he started the glassmaking firm Semon Bache & Company. Career In 1881, he started work as a cashier at Leopold Cahn & Co., a stockbrokerage firm founded by his uncle. In 1886, he was made a minority partner, and in 1892, he took full control of the business, renaming it J. S. Bache & Co. Jules Bache built the company into one of the top brokerage houses in the United States, outranked only by Merrill Lynch. In the process, he became an immensely wealthy individual, a patron of the arts, and a philanthropist. During World War I, Jules Bache donated money to the American Field Service in France, and his wife was the honorary treasurer of the "War Babies' Cradle," a charity that provided aid for mothers and children in distress in war-torn Northern France and Belgium to provide them with food, clothing, heating fuel, and medical care.