The Money Kings: The Epic Story of the Jewish Immigrants Who Transformed Wall Street and Shaped Modern America

by Daniel Schulman

During one Mount Sinai board meeting, Schiff learned that a fellow trustee, the forty-five-year-old coffee merchant Moses Hanauer, had declared bankruptcy due to some unwise speculation. Schiff was horrified. How could a man who was unable to manage his own financial affairs be trusted with the stewardship of a charitable institution? Schiff announced stiffly that he refused to serve on the same board as someone who was not good for his debts. He ultimately resigned from the board, as did his bankrupt colleague.[9] Hanauer, financially ruined and despondent, later traveled far uptown to Fort Washington Point on the banks of the Hudson River, the site where the George Washington Bridge was later constructed overhead. The merchant pressed a pistol to his right temple and pulled the trigger.[10]