Paul Bonwit

Paul Joseph Bonwit was a retail merchant and founder of Bonwit Teller department store in New York City. Bonwit controlled the company bearing his name from its founding in 1895 until its sale in 1934.

Bonwit was born near Hanover, Germany, the son of Bernard Bonwit. At the age of 16, he moved to Paris, where he found work with a local export house as a clerk and continued his studies at night. In 1883, at age 21, he emigrated to the United States, locating at first in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he worked in a department store. He moved to New York for a job with Rothschild amp Company, which was renamed Bonwit, Rothschild amp Company when he later became a partner. He eventually settled in New York City. He married Sarah Woolf in 1893 and they had two sons.

Source: Wikipedia