John L. Loeb, Jr, former US Ambassador to Denmark, philanthropist and art collector, is a compelling narrator of his life story that is in its ninth decade. John Loeb is a 9^th generation American.  His earliest ancestor, Abraham Isaacks emigrated to the U.S. from Emden, Holland in 1697.

It is a story of immense privilege and prejudice.

It is the story of antisemitism, as experienced through the eyes of old money, cultured and philanthropically-minded Americans of Jewish descent, through the 1940s, 50s and again today, with renewed and chilling zeal.

The two silver spoons of John L. Loeb

A descendent of two major Wall Street dynasties, Lehman Brothers and Loeb, Rhoades, young John Loeb had an idyllic childhood on hisfamily’s estate in Westchester.

Being sent to boarding school at the age of nine was, by all accounts, a shock to the system, but not unusual for his generation and certainly par for the course in the context of the family’s social standing.

What they had not prepared him for was the overt hostility of other pupils when it became known that he was one of only three Jewish boys at both his pre-prep and prep schools. The fact that he excelled academically compounded his peers’ animosity.  

“Made me even more unpopular”

He vividly recalls watching newsreels from the German concentration camps alongside his fellow pupils who cheered – for the Germans!

“We don’t like Hitler, but at least he killed the Jews,” some exclaimed.  Eventually, John’s tormentors at his school stopped tormenting him, when a school-sanctioned boxing match between young Loeb and the ringleader of the anti-Semites, ended with Loeb inflicting a black eye on the ringleader.  He suffered no further insults.

Extraordinarily, Loeb in recognition of the wonderful education he received at his schools, regardless of the many instances of anti-Semitism, is a benefactor to both schools, and is grateful that these schools no longer endure anti-Semitism.

Loeb is extremely concerned by the resurgence of anti-Semitism worldwide, which, according to Loeb, had almost disappeared after World War II and the liberation of Jewish men and women from the concentration camps after the Holocaust.

Harvard, on the other hand, when he got there, was democratic, even if some private clubs, the equivalent of fraternity houses today, excluded Jews. Loeb was delighted to recount that he was a member of the Lampoon and Hasty Pudding Clubs during his time at Harvard.

Still, he remembers those Harvard years fondly, comparing it to heaven, as opposed to the hell of his boarding school years.

Harvard was followed by Harvard Business School and then, John Loeb joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, which allowed him to enter the Air Force as a second Lieutenant in 1954.

His subsequent career in finance would have been pre-ordained but did not define him.  He went on to buy the Russian Riverbend Vineyards and create the Sonoma-Loeb wine brand.

He also followed in the footsteps of his predecessors and various family members, who have long been distinguished philanthropists.

Loeb House at Harvard was so named in 1995, in honor of his parents, longtime University benefactors, John Langeloth Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb.

Lehman Hall, a Georgian-revival building by Charles Coolidge, completed in 1925  as part of Harvard President Abbott Lawrence Lowell’s program to “cloister” Harvard Yard, is named for donor Arthur Lehman (1873–1936) and his wife Adele.

Philanthropist *

Perhaps not surprisingly, John Loeb, has dedicated his life to promoting tolerance and combatting antisemitism in all its forms.

He has done more than anyone else to keep alive the legacy of George Washington’s letter to the Hebrew community, establishing the Loeb Visitors Center in Newport, Rhode Island, and the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom (https://www.gwirf.org/) to further the message of religious toleration.

Loeb has funded several high school essay competitions.  The students are encouraged to enter an essay writing competition on the relevance of Washington’s letter in today’s world.

John went on to serve as a special advisor to Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller on environmental matters from 1967 to 1973 and was chairman of the New York State Council of Environmental Advisors from 1970 to 1975.

Ambassador and Art Collector

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed John to the post of United States Ambassador to Denmark.

He was not married at the time, which “left him with a lot of time on his hands,” he says, and led him to develop his life-long love of Danish Art.

Every art lover has their own path as a collector, and I asked about his.

<<My parents collected impressionist art. My cousins were major collectors and donated their art collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art>>

He is, of course, referring to the Robert Lehman Wing at the Met (https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/collection-areas/the-robert-lehman-collection).

John Loeb’s first foray into art came courtesy of a fellow Harvard Business School alum and longtime roommate, gallery owner Richard L. Feigen.

Feigen encouraged his good friend to invest in one of his favorite paintings from his collection by German Expressionist artist, George Grosz.  John negotiated the modest investment, and he paid the grand sum of $500 for the painting. The Love Sick, Der Liebeskranke, is an oil on canvas and Loeb thought it was the inverse of “The Picture of Dorian Grey.” 

When, 20 years later, Feigen offered to buy it back for $200 000, Loeb thought it had been a good investment.

Today, the work is held at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen museum in Düsseldorf.

In Denmark, the then Ambassador Loeb developed a liking for the realistic art of the Skaagen School and started what became, and still is, the world’s largest private collection of Danish art.

Peder Severin Krøyer, self-portrait

His collection numbers 154 painting and 3 sculptures.

Has he decided what the future of the collection is?

“It’s a good question,” he muses, “Perhaps I’ll give it to my children.” For the time being, though, he is happy to loan works to museums and exhibitions, and simply enjoy them at his exquisite properties between the United States and Europe.

Currently, twenty-eight of his beautiful paintings are on view at The Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut, through the end of November 2025.  The exhibition is entitled, The Art of Work – Painting Labor in Nineteenth Century Denmark.

A. Ancher

Christian Vilhelm Mourier-Petersen

*Awards

Among his numerous awards and recognitions are the Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award, the Distinguished Patriot Award of the Sons of the American Revolution, and the John Clarke Laureate of the John Clarke Society. He became C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire), bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994 for his work with the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States.

Ambassador Loeb is also a Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of Dannebrog, received from Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.

Ambassador Loeb, a descendant of Emma Lazarus, the poet whose seminal sonnet is engraved on the Statue of Liberty, received the 2015 Emma Lazarus Statue of Liberty Award from the American Jewish Historical Society for his work promoting religious freedom.

His memoir, Reflections, Memories and Confessions, is available to download at Audible and a hardcover is available on Amazon