Biography of 	ISAACS, Marks Edenkoben, Germany, then Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by 	Mike Miller April 1998

**********************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
**********************************************  

Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, 
and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 219-221.  Edited
by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914, by Century Historical 
Association.

Isaacs, Marks, merchant prince of New Orleans, large real estate owner, 
philanthropist, and well-beloved citizen, was born at Edenkoben, Germany, 
in the year 1851, and died suddenly of heart disease, at his home on St. 
Charles avenue, New Orleans, La., at 8:45 o'clock p. m., Thursday, April 21,
1910.  His death was a great shock to a large number of friends, and as 
these became aware of the sudden death of their beloved friend, they 
hastened to the palatial residence, where the grief-stricken family 
bemoaned the loss of a model husband and father, while the community at 
large prepared to mourn the final departure of a worthy citizen patriot, 
colossal character, and widely-known philanthropist, whose integrity was 
above reproach.  Mr. Isaacs, had been down town attending to business as 
usual during the day, and while his health had not for some time been of 
the best, because of his close application to business, he had not 
complained of feeling badly, and after dinner he and Mrs. Isaacs started 
out for a stroll along the avenue.  While walking, he suddenly became ill, 
and they returned home.  Soon after entering the doorway, he became 
unconscious, and within 15 minutes had passed quietly into the sleep which 
knows no waking.  Mrs. Isaacs and their daughters were at his side, but 
their 2 sons could not be reached immediately and did not arrive until a 
few minutes after their father's death.  When a baby of 2 years, Marks 
Isaacs was brought to America by his parents.  The family lived at New York 
until 1870, in which year the son went to New Orleans and there entered the 
service of his uncle, Simon Kaufman, who then conducted a dry goods store 
at the corner of Poydras and Baronne streets.  From  this establishment he 
later went to the firm of A. Shwartz & Son, on Canal street, and after some 
years there, launched out into business on his own account, opening a store 
on Dryades street, which became the foundation for his later business 
successes.  This was in the year 1877, and after operating this store alone 
for a time, he took into partnership Charles A. Kaufman, and the firm name 
of Kaufman & Isaacs, which later became so well and favorably known, was 
then born.  This establishment developed into one of the largest in the 
city, much to the surprise of those who predicted that a large store could 
not flourish elsewhere than on Canal street, in New Orleans.  In 1901, Mr. 
Isaacs withdrew from this firin and became associated with S. J. Shwartz & 
Co., the firm name being changed to the Shwartz-Isaacs Co., and they built 
up the Maison-Blanche into a gigantic establishment.  In March, 1909, Mr. 
Isaacs withdrew from this firm, and then established the Marks Isaacs Co., 
on Canal street, which, though comparatively a new enterprise, having 
behind it the Isaacs reputation, and being backed by Mr. Isaacs' large 
means, has already established itself firmly among the largest, most 
progressive, and best-known commercial houses in the city of New Orleans.  
Mr. Isaacs was not a club man.  He was never so happy as when in the bosom 
of his family at his own hearthstone.  On St. Charles avenue lie built one 
of the most palatial homes in the city, occupying an entire square, between 
Soniat and Dufossat streets.  He was a member, respectively, of the Harmony 
club and the Young Men's Hebrew association, but rarely indulged in the 
diversions of those institutions.  He also was a member of the Touro 
infirmary, of the Jewish Widows & Orphans' home, Touro synagogue, and the 
Knights of Honor.  Mr. Isaacs' charities were unbounded, but when he gave 
he did so unostentatiously, and none knew of it.  His heart was attuned to 
the finest sense of human sympathies.  Mr. Isaacs is survived by his wife, 
who was Miss Lilly Oppenheim; 2 sons, Bernard and Irwin, and 2 daughters, 
Flora, now Mrs. Edward Lazard, and Miss Louise Isaacs.  Mrs. Simon Kaufman 
is a sister to Mr. Isaacs.  At the time of his death, all newspapers in the 
city of New Orleans contained extended reviews of the life of this eminent 
citizen, and all the papers commented editorially upon his death and the 
severe loss thus sustained by the community at large.  From this large 
quantity of matter, so sorrowfully voicing the appreciation of his 
fellow-citizens and so pronouncedly evincing the city's bereavement, the 
following brief extract is taken from the columns of the New Orleans 
Times-Democrat:  "By the death of Marks Isaacs, which occurred last 
Thursday night, the city loses one of its leading merchants and the 
community a member widely respected and highly esteemed.  Coming here 40 
years ago as a boy of 18, Mr. Isaacs engaged in mercantile pursuits.  Upon 
the secure foundation of industry, native ability, and enterprising spirit, 
he reared the fabric of his great fortune, gaining early recognition and 
large prominence in business circles.  Beyond and above his worldly 
successes, he won popularity and the regard of his fellows by his genial 
personality, the breadth and liberality of his views, and his many acts of 
kindness and charity.  His home life was singularly happy, and the 
magnificent residence he built in St. Charles avenue, and in which he 
passed the happiest hours during the closing years of his life, stands as a 
monument to that love and devotion to family which all men admire.  His 
death, sudden and unheralded by premonitory illness, came as a shock to the 
entire community, which mourns the untimely cutting off of a citizen who 
won, in honorable ways, a large and deserved success, and by his sterling 
character and admirable traits of mind and heart attained to high place in 
the popular regard."  Rabbi I. L. Leucht, of Touro synagogue, of which Mr. 
Isaacs was a member, conducted the impressive funeral ceremonial over the 
remains of Mr. Isaacs at the family home, and in the course of a most 
beautiful eulogy upon the character of the deceased, paid his personality 
such tribute as few men can receive.  From Rabbi Leucht 's remarks the 
following brief extract is made:  "I knew Marks Isaacs 40 years ago, from 
the day upon which he first came to this city...  He had that seldom-found 
and happy faculty of making and holding his friends.  He was not that kind 
of friend who values friendship only for what it can return in material 
value, but the friend whose affection comes from the heart, and is unselfish
and honorable."  Dr. Leucht said that the name of Marks Isaacs always stood 
for probity and honesty.  He referred to the manner in which Mr. Isaacs 
began his career, and how, by his manly courage, his honest and 
deliberateness of purpose, and his unswerving application to his duties and 
ideals in life, he had mounted the ladder of success until he stood among 
his trades-fellows as a prince of merchants, and among his neighbors and 
friends as a prince among men...  Those he employed he loved, and that is 
why they were always staunch and loyal to him.  Look outside, where there 
are hundreds of those who have worked for him, and witness their genuine 
grief at his departure from this world, and you may get a faint idea of 
that trait of his character which I am seeking to picture in words...  His 
very code of existence was that upon which the principle of justice is 
founded.  No one person can stand beside this bier and say 'Thou hast done 
me wrong.'  In honor and modesty he wore the crown of citizenship, and the 
community suffers a great loss in his death.  His dominant ambition in life 
was to see that those he loved and cherished were happy and content, and he 
did everything possible to mortal man to accomiplish that end."  Dr. Leucht 
spoke of the honorable heritage that had fallen to the children of the 
deceased, and pointed them to the sacred trust of an honorable name now 
confided to their keeping.

Note:  Original source includes a photo of Mr. Isaacs.