Jacob Schöllkopf

Jacob Friedrich Schoellkopf Jr. (February 27, 1858 – September 9, 1942) was an American business executive, founder of Schoellkopf Aniline and Chemical Works, and member of the Schoellkopf family who were involved in hydroelectric resources at Niagara Falls.

Jacob F. Schoellkopf Jr. was born in Buffalo on February 27, 1858, the fourth son of industrialist Jacob F. Schoellkopf (1819-1899) and Christiana T. (Duerr) Schoellkopf (1827-1903). He started his education at local schools in Buffalo, then St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute in Buffalo, afterward going to Germany where he studied for from 1873-1880 at the University of Munich and in Stuttgart specializing in chemistry where he graduated from the Stuttgart-Polytechnic College as a member of the class of 1880.

After Schoellkopf graduated, he returned to Buffalo, New York from Germany.His studies at the university had involved the subject of coal tar dyes, and he felt that the American market offered a great field for these products. Therefore, he established the "Schoellkopf Aniline and Chemical Works," which was founded shortly after his return to Buffalo and which constituted the largest plant of its kind in the United States. The business later became the "Schoellkopf, Hartford & Hanna Company," of which Schoellkopf was president. As of 1908, the company had $3,000,000 (equivalent to $85,367,000 in 2019) capital, employed 350 men and was paying $15,000 (equivalent to $427,000 in 2019) a month in wages. The plant covered about thirty-six acres of land and consisted of thirty brick buildings.

Additionally, Schoellkopf was president of the "American Magnesia and Covering Company," located at Plymouth Meeting near Philadelphia; vice-president of the "Commonwealth Trust Company" and of the "Central National Bank"; and a director of the Columbia National Bank and of the "Security, Safe Deposit Company." He was also a director of the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company; a director of the National Aniline and Chemical Company of New York; also of the "Cliff Paper Company" of Niagara Falls and the "International Hotel Company", also of Niagara Falls. He was president of the "Contact Process Company" and an investor in the "New York State Steel Company" (which later became Republic Steel).

Schoellkopf was president of the "Schoellkopf, Hutton & Pomeroy Investment Bank", a private entity, which later evolved into the "Niagara Share Corp.," a closed-end investment fund. In 1926, Schoellkopf and his son, Jacob F. Schoellkopf III, engaged Esenwein & Johnson to build the "Niagara Share Building" to house the investment bank. The bank was on the third floor of the building and featured a telegraph room and trading floor which was a mini-version of the New York Stock Exchange.

On April 1, 1882, Schoellkopf married Wilma Spring (d. 1938), daughter of Alexander Spring, of Stuttgart, Germany. They resided in Buffalo, New York and together they had:

• Jacob F. Schoellkopf III (1883-1952), who married Olive Abbott (1886-1958), daughter of George Lansing Abbott and Nellie M. Houghton. Olive was the granddaughter of the founder of Corning, (Amory Houghton)
• Ruth Wilma Schoellkopf (1899-1961), who married Philip Phillips (1900-1994) in 1922 in Buffalo, New York. In 1942, the Phillips resided in Cambridge, Massachusetts where Phillips received a doctorate from Harvard University.
• Esther Spring Schoellkopf (b. 1901), who married Ernest Kramer (d. 1955) of Berne, Switzerland on February 13, 1928 in Honolulu, Hawaii.The family sailed to Honolulu on the S.S. President Hayes. After the wedding, Kramers moved to a sheep ranch near Sydney, Australia. By 1942, the Kramers were living in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Schoellkopf was a member of the Buffalo Historical Society, of the National Geographical Society of Washington, D.C., and of the American Society for Political and Social Science. He was also a member of the Buffalo Club and the Country Club of Buffalo. He was a trustee of Buffalo General Hospital and the inaugural chair, from 1919-1922, of the Community Foundation Board (now the "Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo").

On September 9, 1942, Schoellkopf died and was buried alongside his wife Wilma, who died September 16, 1938, at Lakeside Memorial Park Cemetery. At his death, Schoellkopf left $50,000 (equivalent to $782,000 in 2019) to the Buffalo Council of the Boy Scouts of America and an additional $50,000 (equivalent to $782,000 in 2019) among six public, welfare and educational organizations. Additionally, he made bequests to several of his employees, including $10,000 (equivalent to $156,000 in 2019) to his housekeeper, Rose Boger. The majority of his estate was left to his three children.