Prominent Businessmen of Paterson
Robert Bell was an artist who created a series of pen and ink portraits of North Jersey’s prominent Jewish businessmen and community leaders in 1927. The following pen and ink portraits are from the JHSNJ archives.
Nathan Barnert
"Paterson's Grand Old Man"
Minor, silk manufacturer, twice mayor of Paterson, NJ, who donated his entire salary to charities, The City’s Greatest Philanthropist, Namesake and Donor of Barnert Hebrew Free School of Paterson, Barnert Memorial Hospital, Barnert Memorial Temple, Daughters of Miriam Home for Orphans, and Barnert Nurses Home, to name but a few.
Nathaniel Stark
Auto Dealer
Albert M. Shulman
Attorney
David Stern
Tire Dealership - founded Dave Stern Tires in Paterson in1917 – Captain Jack Stern, (1900-1970), U.S. Army Air Corps, Paterson giant. This amazing man was a founder of “Dave Stern Tires” in Paterson, once one of the largest independent tire dealers in the U.S. In his spare time, among other things, he was president of the YM/YWHA; President of Barnert Hospital; Police & Fire Commissioner of Paterson; UJA Chairman; President of the Jewish Community Center; Campaign Chairman of the Cancer Campaign; General Vice-Chairman of the Red Cross War Fund Drive; appointee of the Governor to the N.J. to the N.J. Commission on Civil Rights; and member of the Alhtaha Council, Boy Scouts of America and the list goes on and on……….
E. Robert Coven
Attorney – also a banker, and real estate developer; president of Bankers, Ltd, Bankers Title and Abstract Co., and Bankers Agency of Paterson; a founder and organizer of the Fair Lawn-Radburn Trust Co. He was affiliated with several other businesses and instrumental in the development and construction of the Elmwood Park Apartments and Shopping Plaza.
Emanuel Shavick
Attorney
Filbert Rosenstein
Attorney
Norman Brussels
Real Estate – He was born in Passaic and graduated from NYU Medical School. He was in the real estate business for many years in Paterson and died in 1978.
Jacob Katz
Silk Manufacturer and head of the Columbia Silk Company of Paterson – Served as President of Barnert Memorial Hospital for 11 years; served as Treasurer and on the Board of Directors of the Paterson YM/YWHA; he was active in the Daughters of Miriam Home in Clifton; served as trustee of the Shapiro Foundation; was a Mason and Shriner; a founder of Preakness Hills Country Club; and was active in charitable and civic affairs, most of his life. He was born in Poland and settled in Paterson upon his arrival in 1904. Later in life he left the silk business and entered a life of real estate ownership in New Jersey and New York. He died in 1957
Benjamin Spitz
Attorney
Alexander Moskowitz
Attorney
Harry Klotz
Manufacturer – an early 20th century “silk manufacturer” in Paterson, who on June 3, 1919, during the 2nd nationwide wave of local terroristic bombings, with prominent politicians and businessmen, being the victims, was among the targets. He was President of Klotz Silk, Co., a great supporter of Barnert Memorial Hospital, a Mason and an Elk, a NJ Motor Vehicle Inspector, a golfer, and a chess player.
Harry B. Haines
Publisher, Paterson Evening News
Henry Ettleson
Insurance
Dr. Max Imhoff
Silk Business – Born in Basle, Switzerland, and a graduate of the University of Zurich in 1905, Dr. Imhoff migrated to New Jersey and became a leader in the silk industry, and a member of Imhoff-Paoillard Dyeing Firm. He also invented the Weight Process, that became a standard in that industry.
Harry Hecht
Was an Austrian born theater operator who first opened the Palace Theater in 1918 in Passaic. Following a fire, Hecht hired Abram Preiskel to design and build a new 2200-seat Palace Theater completed in 1922. Meanwhile, he also hired Preiskel to design and construct the beautiful 642-seat Rivoli Theater in Rutherford. That site, after going through several changes in venues and ownership still exists as the William Center. He died in 1951.
Jacob Fabian
Theatre Owner
George Gold
Attorney
Abram Preiskel
Architect – see “Harry Hecht” He was also of the Samuel Harris owned Capital Theater as well as the Montauk Theaters in Passaic. During the 1930s he became a co-owner of the Capital Theater with Harry Hecht