About John L. Loeb, Jr’s Reflections, Memories, and Confessions By his own admission, John L. Loeb Jr. was “born with two silver spoons in my mouth.” Descended from the founders of two major Wall Street firms—Lehman Brothers and Loeb, Rhoades—this former US Ambassador to Denmark weaves his fascinating, poignant personal story with an insider’s perspective on diplomacy, the environment, and the social life of New York’s elite from the nineteenth century to the present.Loeb is one of the last of New York’s “Our Crowd,” the city’s nineteenth- and twentieth-century Jewish establishment. His maternal uncles included New York Governor Herbert Lehman and Irving Lehman, Chief Justice of the New York Court of Appeals. On his paternal side, grandfather Carl M. Loeb and father John L. Loeb Sr. founded Loeb, Rhoades. And his brother Arthur founded New York City’s beloved Madison Avenue Bookshop. Loeb’s confessions are an open and moving account of the blessings and burdens of growing up in his family’s circle of expectations.These very pressures have made Loeb’s life one more of obligation than leisure. As a boy at an elite private school, he faced persistent anti-Semitism that shaped his philanthropic commitments through his life. Although not religiously observant, Loeb embraces his Jewish identity and has promotedrespect for members of all religions at home and abroad. Taking inspiration from George Washington’s immortal 1790 “Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island,” in which our first president promised the government of the United States would give “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance,” he built the Loeb Visitors Center at the Touro Synagogue National Historic Site. In Newport, RI. In 2016, he funded the Loeb Institute for Religious Freedom at The George Washington University.Loeb’s life of public service includes a stint in the US Air Force and chairmanship of the New York State Council on the Environment. Appointed US Ambassador to Denmark by Ronald Reagan in 1981, Loeb began building what is today the largest privately held collection of Danish fine art. Queen Margarethe of Denmark presented him with a knighthood - the Grand Cross of the Order of Dannebrog, her nation’s highest civilian honor.Loeb’s leadership of the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States has greatly advanced the careers of hundreds of young American scientists who received scholarships to spend a year at Churchill College, Cambridge. Previously, the Foundation’s first step was to establish a fellowship fund to invite distinguished American scientists to pursue their academic interests at Churchill College. Seven of these scientists became Nobel laureates. In 1993, Queen Elizabeth of England appointed Loeb a Commander of the British Empire.Combining his business acumen with a commitment to steward the land, Loeb still maintains Riverbend Vineyards in California’s Sonoma County.Loeb founded of the highly-esteemed Sonoma-Loeb wines.This highly personal and revealing memoir is, above all, a testament to his passionate commitment to his wife, family, and philanthropic commitments. Still going strong at eighty-eight years old, John Loeb is far from having written the final chapter of his life.
Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. (born May 2, 1930) is a businessman, philanthropist, art collector, and former United States Ambassador to Denmark. Throughout his life, Mr. Loeb has been praised for his public service, his philanthropy, and his commitment to American values, particularly to the right of all Americans to religious liberty.
Born in New York City to businessman John Langeloth Loeb Sr. and Frances Lehman, Mr. Loeb graduated with a B.A. from Harvard College Cum Laude and as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. He received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1954.
Following military service in the United States Air Force (1954-56), Loeb became a partner at Loeb Rhoades & Co., international investment bankers. Since 1979, he has been chairman of Loeb, Rhoades Trust Company, owned by John L. Loeb Jr. Associates, Inc., Investment Counselors.
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed Mr. Loeb as Ambassador of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Denmark. Upon leaving the post in 1983, Her Royal Highness Queen Margrethe II of Denmark bestowed a knighthood - the Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog upon Ambassador Loeb. The Order was given in recognition for his contribution to the arts, sciences or business life, and his work for Danish interests.
Upon his return to the United States, the Ambassador was appointed as a Delegate to the 38th Session of the United Nations. Mr. Loeb has had the good fortune to meet and work under every President from Eisenhower to George W. Bush, and with Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York. Among his many other contributions to public service, Mr. Loeb is presently on the Board of Directors of the Council of American Ambassadors and has held the office of Vice-Chair since 1999.
In 1994, Queen Elizabeth II of England also honored Ambassador Loeb by decorating him as Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (C.B.E) in honor of his contributions to the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States. The Foundation offers American citizens of exceptional ability and outstanding achievement the opportunity to pursue graduate studies in engineering, mathematics, or the sciences at Churchill College of Cambridge University. Mr. Loeb has served as chair of the organization since 2003.
The Ambassador's philanthropic contributions reflect his varied interests. He has sponsored publications and exhibitions on early American genealogy and family history, Danish art, and religious liberty in America. In 2009, he founded the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom, and serves as the chairman of the organization.
Loeb speaks frequently on religious freedom in America. In 2010, he was invited to deliver the Herbert H. Lehman Memorial Lecture at Lehman College CUNY. He was the first direct relative of Herbert H. Lehman to receive the honor. His lecture, "Beyond Tolerance," was an exploration of the history and contemporary relevance of George Washington's 1790 "Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport Rhode Island."
