Paul Warburg

Paul Warburg was born on August 10, 1868, in Hamburg, Germany, into a Jewish family.⁠[1]

The family bank, M.M. Warburg & Co., was founded by his great-grandfather; the bank’s own history records that the brothers Moses Marcus Warburg and Gerson Warburg established it in 1798 in Altona, then part of Holstein.⁠[2][3]

He finished secondary school (Realgymnasium) in Hamburg in 1886 and then apprenticed at the Hamburg import-export house Simon Hauer, after which he trained at Samuel Montagu & Co. in London and at a bank in Paris and held positions with shipping and banking firms in those cities.⁠[2][1]

He entered the family bank, M.M. Warburg & Co., in 1891, and in 1895, back in Hamburg, became a personally liable partner of the firm.⁠[1][2]

In 1902 he was elected to the Hamburg Bürgerschaft and in the same year moved his main residence to New York City, becoming a partner in Kuhn, Loeb & Co., the firm of his father-in-law Solomon Loeb, where he oversaw international loans to several governments; he remained a partner in the family bank until 1907.⁠[1][2]

On November 12, 1907, he published his memorandum “A plan for a modified central bank” in The New York Times. He argued for a U.S. central bank in speeches and articles and informally advised the National Monetary Commission, created after the Panic of 1907 to study banking reform.⁠[1][2]

In November 1910 he was one of six men, including Senator Nelson Aldrich, who met secretly on Jekyll Island, Georgia, and drew up a plan for a National Reserve Association. Congress rejected the resulting “Aldrich plan,” but it laid the groundwork for the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.⁠[2][1]

He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1911.⁠[2]

President Woodrow WilsonWoodrow WilsonWoodrow Wilson (1856–1924) was an American scholar and politician who served as president of Princeton University and governor of New Jersey and was the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921, leading the country through World War I and proposing the League of Nations.Open the full entry appointed him to the first Federal Reserve Board in 1914; listed for New York, he took the oath of office on August 10, 1914, giving up his partnership in Kuhn, Loeb & Co.⁠[2][4][1]

On August 10, 1916, he was appointed vice governor of the Federal Reserve Board, serving until August 9, 1918, when his term as a member also expired and he left the Board.⁠[4][5]

In 1919 he founded the American Acceptance Council and became the first chairman of its executive committee; in 1921 he organized the International Acceptance Bank and became chairman of its board. From 1921 to 1926 he was a member of the Federal Reserve System’s Federal Advisory Council.⁠[2][1]

He was a co-founder of the Council on Foreign RelationsCouncil on Foreign RelationsThe Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is a nonpartisan, independent U.S. membership organization and think tank founded in 1921 and based in New York, which has published Foreign Affairs since 1922 and takes no institutional positions on policy; Michael Froman has been its 15th president since 2023.Open the full entry, established in 1921, and served as one of its directors from 1921 to 1932.⁠[1][2][6]

He was a trustee of the Institute of Economics from 1922 to 1927 and, after its merger into the Brookings Institution in 1927, a trustee of Brookings. At various times he was a director of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the Union Pacific RailroadUnion PacificUnion Pacific Corporation is an Omaha-based U.S. railroad holding company whose Union Pacific Railroad runs freight trains in 23 western states. In 2025 it agreed to merge with Norfolk Southern.Open the full entry and the Western Union Telegraph Company, a director of the Juilliard School of Music and a trustee of Tuskegee College.⁠[2]

In March 1929 he warned that excessive stock speculation, fueled by rising prices and unsound bank lending, would have disastrous results if left unchecked. The stock market crashed on October 29, 1929.⁠[2]

In 1930 he published the two-volume The Federal Reserve System, Its Origin and Growth: Reflections and Recollections, whose second volume collects his addresses and essays from 1907 to 1924. In the same year he helped establish the Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation.⁠[7][2]

He died at his home in New York on January 24, 1932, at the age of 63, of pneumonia. At his death he was chairman of the Manhattan Company and a director of the Bank of Manhattan Trust Company, the Farmers Loan and Trust Company of New York and the First National Bank of Boston.⁠[1][2][8]

In keeping with his wishes, the funeral was strictly private and attended only by immediate family, and his remains were cremated; he is buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in New York StateNew York (state)New York is a state in the eastern United States; its capital is Albany and its largest city is New York City. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on July 26, 1788, becoming the 11th state to join the Union, and its population in the 2020 census was 20,201,249.Open the full entry.⁠[9][1]

His brothers included Aby Warburg, Max Warburg and Felix Warburg; Felix Warburg (1871–1937) was also a partner in Kuhn, Loeb & Co.⁠[1][10]

His wife, Nina Mira (1870–1945), was the daughter of Solomon Loeb and Betty Gallenberg; the marriage is dated 1893 or 1895. They had a son, James Paul Warburg (1896–1969), who became an adviser to Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) was an American politician who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 to 1945, the only president elected four times; he led the country through the Great Depression and World War II and greatly expanded the federal government’s role through the New Deal.Open the full entry, and a daughter, Bettina (born about 1900).⁠[1]

His papers, dating from 1904 to 1932, are held by Manuscripts and Archives at the Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Its predecessor, the Collegiate School, received a charter in 1701. Trustees chose New Haven in 1716; the institution became Yale College in 1718 and Yale University in 1887. Yale provides undergraduate, graduate and professional education and has 14 undergraduate residential colleges. As of October 2026, its president was Maurie McInnis, who took office in July 2024. In 2026, Yale expanded aid for incoming undergraduates and celebrated its 325th anniversary.Open the full entry Library and include 169 volumes on banking and finance. The FRASER digital library of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis holds his statements and speeches.⁠[2]

Federal Reserve System: Official website: https://www.federalreserve.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[4]

Council on Foreign Relations: Official website: https://www.cfr.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[6]

M.M.Warburg & CO: Official website: https://www.mmwarburg.de/ (opens in a new window).⁠[3]