Читать книгу Memoirs of Milwaukee County, Volume 2 - Josiah Seymour Currey - Страница 12

Herman Pehr, who in January, 1920, was elected to the presidency of the National Bank of Commerce of Milwaukee, has long been a close and discriminating student of the problems of finance and for eighteen years has been associated with the institution of which he is now the head, making it one of the strong and substantial moneyed concerns of the state. Milwaukee numbers him among her native sons, his birth having occurred February 27, 1865, his parents being Jacob and Katharine (Stocker) Fehr, who were natives of Switzerland. They came to this country in early life and were married in Milwaukee, where they had settled in 1852. The father was a blacksmith and followed that trade among the earliest representatives of the business in this city. The family home was on Prairie street, between Third and Fourth streets, now in the down-town district.

Herman Fehr was educated in the public schools, passing through consecutive grades until graduated from the high school of Milwaukee, after which he entered the University of Wisconsin and there completed a course in 1884, obtaining the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Mechanical Engineer. He afterward took up the study of law and in 1886 was graduated from the law department of the University of Wisconsin with the LL. B. degree. The same year he was admitted to the bar and entered upon active practice in Milwaukee and later became a member of the firm of Austin, Fehr, Mueller A Gehrz, which is still in existence. In 1911, however, Mr. Fehr went to New York city, where he engaged in the theatrical business for a number of years, retiring therefrom in 1919, when he returned to take up his abode in Milwaukee. He has been a director of the National Bank of Commerce since its organization in 1903 and in January, 1920, was elected to the presidency. This is one of the leading banks of the city and has had a steady and satisfactory growth from the beginning. Mr. Fehr has been retired from active law practice for the past twelve years but is still a director of the Orpheum Theatrical Circuit. This and his banking interests constitute the scope of his business connections at the present time. He has met with success, carefully and wisely directing his activities, and the soundness of his judgment is manifest in what he has accomplished.

Mr. Fehr is an active member and one of the directors of the Milwaukee Association of Commerce. He also belongs to the Milwaukee Club, the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Wisconsin Club, the Calumet Club, the Milwaukee Country Club and the Blue Mound Country Club, while in New York he has membership in the Lambs Club, one of the most noted organizations of this character in the country. The interests and activities of his life have been broad and varied, making him a man of liberal culture and of wide vision.