Ethnicity German Occupation Businessman | Name Frederick Otto | |
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Spouse Caroline Clausen (m. 1862) | ||
Frederick August Otto Schwarz (October 18, 1836 – May 17, 1911) was a toy retailer who started FAO Schwarz.
Biography
He was born in 1836 at Herford, Westphalia, Germany and immigrated in 1856 with his three brothers: Henry, Richard, and Gustav. He worked for a Baltimore stationery importer. German exporters sometimes packed toys and other items in with the stationery in the hope of expanding their exports. Schwarz put the toys in the store window, and they outsold the stationery. By 1862 he had switched to selling the toys from his own shop, and in 1870 he moved his business to Manhattan. He married Caroline Clausen (1841–1904). Together they had three sons and three daughters: Anna Schwarz (1863–?), Ida Schwarz (1864-1942), Henry Schwarz (1867–1903), George Frederick Schwarz (1868–1931), Emilie Schwarz (1870–1958), and H. Marshall Schwarz. Frederick August Otto Schwarz died on May 17, 1911. Schwarz is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery.
Frederick August Otto Schwarz, Jr. is his great grandson.