Manfred Steinfeld*

Manfred Steinfeld was born in Josbach, Germany, in 1924. When he was five, his father died, leaving his mother to run the family dry goods store. As a youngster, Steinfeld delivered orders for materials and ribbons from the family's shop.

After Adolf Hitler became chancellor in 1933, life changed drastically for the Steinfelds. Nazi doctrine was taught in the schools, and it became harder and harder for Jews to earn a living. When he was 14, Steinfeld left Germany alone to live with an aunt and uncle in Chicago. He corresponded with his mother until 1942, learning later that she and a sister had died in a Nazi concentration camp.

Before joining the U.S. Army, Steinfeld worked in a drug store and attended the University of Illinois for one year. By this time, he had become a U.S. citizen, and he said he no longer felt any allegiance to Germany. Steinfeld was awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart and, at age 21, translated the unconditional surrender document of the Germans east of the Elbe River in 1945 for Major Gen. James Gavin. "I was the expert on the German Army in the 82nd Airborne Division," he said, "and my ability to speak German was valuable."

After World War II ended, Steinfeld earned a degree in commerce from Chicago's Roosevelt University. He worked a short time for the Illinois Revenue Department before serving two years in the Korean War. In 1952, he went to work for Sam Horwitz of Equipment Manufacturing Company. Eventually, the two purchased the bankrupt Great Northern Chair Company for $10,000 and turned it into the world's largest public seating manufacturer. His company, Shelby Williams Industries, has furnished hotels, restaurants, and other installations around the world, and it was the first U.S. furniture manufacturer to trade with China.

Steinfeld endowed the Manfred Steinfeld Curriculum in Hotel and Tourism Management at Roosevelt University, as well as the Shelby Williams Scholarship Fund for Excellence in Ecology at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. In addition, he established scholarships at Illinois Institute of Technology, Roosevelt University, and University of Tennessee, and he endowed a professional chair at Israel's Weizman Institute of Science. The Steinfelds also endowed a gallery in 20th century American decorative arts at the Art Institute of Chicago.