Robert Lehman
American banker, art collector, race-horse owner, and philanthropist (1891-1969)
Robert Lehman (September 29, 1891 – August 9, 1969) was an American banker, longtime head of the Lehman Brothers investment bank, and a racehorse owner, art collector, and philanthropist.
Life and career
Lehman was born to a Jewish family in New York City. He was the son of Philip Lehman (1861–1947) and grandson of Emanuel Lehman, a cofounder of Lehman Brothers investment bank, and Carrie Lauer (1865–1937).
He graduated from Hotchkiss School in 1908 and was a 1913 graduate of Yale University, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Phi chapter). When his father retired in 1925, "Bobbie" Lehman assumed the leadership role of the family-owned business. He took over the bank during a time when Lehman Brothers, like its competitors Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, was essentially a one-office firm.
While sound financial principles were essential, Robert Lehman was often quoted as saying that he "bet on people." One of those people he believed in was Juan Trippe who would build Pan American World Airways into an industry powerhouse. Robert Lehman understood that to maximize Lehman Brothers' growth he needed additional investor capital. While still maintaining voting control, he was the first to invite non-family members to become partners. He understood too that the right partners could expand the company's opportunities through interlocking directorships.
The public source identifies “Robert Lehman” as american banker, art collector, race-horse owner, and philanthropist (1891-1969). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Robert, Lehman and American.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3435730. VIAF identifies the subject as 14794079. The Library of Congress control number is n80046359. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1891, 1969, 1861 and 1947.
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This entry incorporates text from “Robert Lehman” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.