Nathan Cummings American businessman, investor and philanthropist of Canadian origin. Country: USA

1. Early Life and Education
2. Business Career
3. Consolidated Foods and Sara Lee
4. Art Collection and Philanthropy

Early Life and Education

Nathan Cummings was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, in 1886, to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants. His family moved to the United States when he was young, settling first in Waltham, Massachusetts, and later in Manchester, New Hampshire. Cummings never graduated high school, but he attended a business college in New York City for about a year before returning to work in his father's business.

Business Career

Cummings began selling shoes at the age of fifteen and became a shoe salesman at nineteen. He eventually opened his own shoe store and factory in 1924, but the business failed during the Great Depression. Cummings declared bankruptcy in 1932, but he was eventually able to repay his debts and start anew.

In the mid-1930s, Cummings invested in the Canadian biscuit and candy manufacturer McCormicks. His success in that venture led to his being offered the management of the Baltimore-based C.D. Kenny Company, which sold sugar, tea, and coffee. Cummings purchased the company in 1941 and transformed it into a thriving business empire.

Consolidated Foods and Sara Lee

In 1945, Cummings established the headquarters of his corporation, Consolidated Grocers Corporation, in Chicago. Time magazine hailed him as "The Duke of Groceries." In 1954, the company changed its name to Consolidated Foods Corporation, which Cummings considered "less old-fashioned." The name Sara Lee Corporation was adopted in 1985. The Sara Lee brand had been acquired by the corporation in 1956 and became one of the most recognizable among Cummings's many acquisitions.

Art Collection and Philanthropy

Cummings retired from the company in 1968 but remained its honorary chairman and continued to take an active role until his death in 1985. He began collecting art after amassing a fortune. His first major purchase was Camille Pissarro's painting "The Harvest," which he saw in a Paris gallery in 1945. Cummings's collection included a wide variety of pieces, including French Post-Impressionist paintings, modern sculpture, and ancient Peruvian ceramics. He was particularly interested in the work of living artists and architects, such as Henry Moore, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Georges Braque, and Alberto Giacometti.

Cummings was a generous philanthropist who supported hospitals, universities, arts organizations, and the Jewish community. In 1949, he established the Nathan Cummings Foundation, which was dedicated to helping create "a socially structured and economically just society." Much of his estate, estimated at $200 million at the time of his death, was bequeathed to the foundation.