The Patron: A Life of Salman Schocken

The Patron is the first biography of Salman Schocken, written by Anthony David and published by Metropolitan Books, New York, in 2003.

“The Patron narrates the life of Salman Schocken, founder of a large department store chain and Jewish philanthropic titan. This sweeping and colorful saga follows Schocken’s transformation from an impoverished migrant selling textiles door-to-door to a captain of German industry, at once media magnate, collector, talent scout, and patron. The merchandising millionaire then harnessed his fortune to a vision: to disseminate Jewish secular culture to the Jewish masses, in much the same way as he marketed well-designed coffee pots to the working class. His task, as he saw it, was not to spread culture but to create it, through publishing houses, newspapers, and the patronage of such influential modern thinkers as Martin Buber and Thomas Mann. But as the Nazi regime closed in on Schocken’s empire, the resilient tycoon transferred his energies and passions to Palestine and New York. The Patron fills in a missing piece of twentieth-century history, the towering life of a self-made man who, with courage and tenacity, helped fashion a people’s national and cultural renaissance. ”

The author, Anthony David, is a biographer, translator, and professor of creative writing.  The Patron was translated into Hebrew in 2006 as ספר המעשים – חיי זלמן שוקן and published by the Schocken Publishing House.