Marcus Fechheimer

John Aubery (Kassel, Germany 1810-1893 Cincinnati, OH)
Cincinnati, OH, 1881
Oil on canvas, h. 48 x w. 38 in.
Cincinnati Skirball Museum purchase, Lucas Museum Fund, 2015, 2015.23

A noted Cincinnati industrialist and philanthropist, Marcus Fechheimer (1818-1881) was born in Bavaria and came to America in 1837, where he worked as a peddler in Pennsylvania. He soon came to Cincinnati, where his brother Abram had established himself in business. Through the 1840s, Marcus worked for the company and by 1855 was a partner in A. Fechheimer & Brother, Wholesale Clothiers. He served on numerous boards and societies, including the Hebrew Relief Society, the Jewish Hospital Society, and the local Board of Education, and was an avid supporter of Music Hall. He was president of K.K. Bene Yeshurun when Isaac Mayer Wise came to serve that congregation in 1854, and remained an active member of the congregation and close friend of Rabbi Wise throughout his life. When Fechheimer died in the summer of 1881, Rabbi Wise officiated at the funeral, where he spoke eloquently about his former benefactor, congregant, and friend. The Fechheimer Brothers Company is still in business with headquarters in Cincinnati, manufacturing and distributing uniforms, and is now part of Berkshire Hathaway. Marcus’s eldest daughters married into established Jewish Cincinnati families. The eldest, Rosa, married Samuel B. Sachs, who founded a shoe manufacturing business. Emily, the second child, married Alfred Seasongood, a clothing merchant.

German-born portrait painter John Aubery came to Cincinnati about 1853. A religious, historical and portrait painter, he was sought after by Cincinnati’s most prominent citizens. Among his sitters were industrialists, politicos, philanthropists and civic leaders including Thomas Emery, Miles Greenwood, Alphonso Taft, and Isaac Mayer Wise, whose portrait can be seen HERE.