Introduction
Benjamin Nathan (December 20, 1813 – July 28, 1870) was an American investor and philanthropist. He was bludgeoned to death in his home in 1870, and the notorious murder case remains unsolved despite several trials in the years following his death.
Biography
He was elected a member of the New York Stock Exchange in 1836, became its vice-president in 1851. He served as a director of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad and the Ninth Avenue Street Railway. He also served on the first Board of Directors for Jews' Hospital. He was also President of Shearith Israel.
In 1849 he was promoted to colonel and named aide-de-camp to New York State Governor Hamilton Fish. Supreme Court Judge Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, his nephew, was born the year Nathan died and was named after him. Nathan's wife Emily G. Nathan died in 1879. They had seven children, including Frederick Nathan and Washington Nathan.
He was murdered on July 28, 1870 in Manhattan, New York City. Aaron B. Rollins was the coroner that investigated the death.
Legacy
Studies in Murder, a 1924 true crime novel by Edmund Pearson, is about the murder.