- published: 25 Dec 2015
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Eugene Isaac Meyer (October 31, 1875 – July 17, 1959) was an American financier, public official, publisher of the Washington Post newspaper. He served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1930 to 1933. He was the father of publisher Katharine Graham.
Born in Los Angeles, California, he was one of eight children of Marc Eugene Meyer and Harriet Newmark. His parents were Jewish but he avoided identification as a Jew until later in life. He grew up in San Francisco and attended college across the bay at the University of California, Berkeley, but he dropped out after one year and later enrolled at Yale University. He received his A.B. in 1895.
After college, Meyer went to work for Lazard Freres, where his father was a partner, but quit in 1901 after four years and went out on his own. He was a successful investor and speculator and owned a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. He married Agnes Elizabeth Ernst, a Lutheran, in 1910; they had five children, including the future Katharine Graham and another daughter Florence Meyer (1911-1962) (Mrs. Oskar Homolka). By 1915, when he was forty, he was worth $40 million.