Paul Felix Warburg

Paul Felix Warburg was born on October 6, 1904, in New York City. His father was Felix M. Warburg, a banker, and his mother was Frieda Schiff, a philanthropist. He was a member of the Warburg family; his grandfather was Jacob Schiff. Warburg attended the Lincoln School of Teachers College, Columbia University, and the Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, graduating from Middlesex in 1921.

From 1921 to 1922, Warburg was employed by Central Hudson Gas & Electric in Poughkeepsie, New York. He then worked for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1922 to 1925, followed by a position at the North American Company from 1925 to 1926. In 1929, Warburg became an assistant vice-president of the International Acceptance Trust Company, Inc., a financial company that later merged with the Bank of Manhattan Company in New York City. By 1931, he had become vice-president of the Bank of Manhattan.

Following his banking career, Warburg focused on philanthropic activities and held various organizational roles. In 1940, he became a general partner at J. S. Bache & Co., an investment banking firm. He was no longer active with Bache by 1942 and left the firm in 1944.

During World War II, Warburg enlisted in the United States Army in 1942. He was commissioned as a captain in the Army Specialist Corps and later promoted to lieutenant colonel. His overseas service began in 1942 with a landing in Casablanca, Morocco, under the command of General George S. Patton. He served as an administrative officer in the G-2 (intelligence) section and then as a liaison officer at the Allied Force Headquarters in Algiers, Algeria. In 1944, he was transferred to Paris to serve in the American embassy's military attache office, where he remained until 1946. For his military service, the French government awarded him the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honour.

After his military service, Warburg worked at the American embassy in London as a special assistant to ambassadors W. Averell Harriman and Lewis W. Douglas until 1950. From 1952 until his death, he maintained an office with the investment banking firm Loeb, Rhoades & Co., managing the family philanthropy fund, the Mr. and Mrs. Paul Felix Warburg Fund, among other charitable initiatives.

Warburg participated actively in various organizations, including founding, presiding over, or directing multiple philanthropic and social service agencies. He was involved with the Federation Employment Service of New York, serving as its founder, president, and director. He also served as a director of the County Trust Company at White Plains, the Staten Island Rapid Transit Company, and the Westchester County Conservation Committee.

His community service activities included serving as secretary of the Jewish Board of Guardians (from 1930), chairman of the board of trustees of the New York Association of the Blind (from 1932), and vice-president and chairman of the New York committee of the National Jewish Hospital at Denver, Colorado. In 1934, he was vice-president of the Business Men's Council of the Federation for Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies, becoming its chairman in 1937. In 1935, Warburg served as treasurer for the German Jewish Children's Aid and the National Co-ordinating Committee for Aid to Refugees and Immigrants from Germany.

He was a member of the national council of the Boy Scouts of America and participated in efforts to assist refugee children through the German Jewish Children's Aid and the United States Committee for the Care of European Children. Warburg also served as vice-chairman of the national board of directors and secretary of the New York committee of Project HOPE. Other affiliations included the Greater New York Fund, the National Refugee Service, the American Council for the International Promotion of Democracy Under God, and various clubs such as the Harmonie Club, Madison Square Garden Club, Recess Club, Wall Street Club, and others.

Warburg belonged to Congregation Emanu-El of New York and was politically affiliated as a Republican. He served as a director of the United Republican Finance Committee, was the finance chairman for John V. Lindsay's congressional campaigns, and headed the New York State Citizens for Eisenhower-Nixon in 1952. Additionally, he was an executive committee member of the American Arbitration Association and vice-president of the English-Speaking Union.

In his personal life, Warburg married three times. His first marriage was to Jean Stettheimer of San Francisco in 1926; they divorced in 1934. His second marriage was to Muriel Constance Woodworth Hart in 1939. His third marriage was to Baroness D'Almeida Santos, formerly Barbara Tapper of Chicago, in 1949. The wedding took place in London at Caxton Hall and was attended by numerous prominent society figures.

He had two daughters from his first marriage: Felicia S., who married Robert W. Sarnoff, and Jill, who married Herbert W. Maass Jr. Paul Felix Warburg died from a heart attack at New York Hospital on October 8, 1965. His funeral was held at Temple Emanu-El.