Levy Barent Cohen | |
Birth Date: | 1747 |
Death Date: | 1808 |
Occupation: | Financier |
Spouse: | Lydia Diamantschleifer |
Parents: | Barent Cohen |
Relatives: | Shlomo David Cohen-Chazzan Nanette Salomons Cohen Nathan Mayer Rothschild (son-in-law) Moses Montefiore (son-in-law) |
Levy Barent Cohen (1747 – 1808) was a Dutch-born British financier and community worker.
Levy Barent Cohen was born in Amsterdam in 1747. He was the son of Barent Cohen, a wealthy merchant.[1] Cohen was of Ashkenazi[2] Jewish descent.[3]
Cohen and his brother moved to England where they developed a large business in London. He became known as one of the leading merchants of the city.[1]
Cohen was naturalized as a British subject in 1798. He was closely involved in a number of Jewish charities and filled successively all the offices of the Duke's Place Synagogue, the principal Ashkenazi synagogue in London.[1]
He married twice, first to Fanny (née Diamantschleifer) then, after her death, to Fanny's sister, Lydia. He had eight surviving children.[4] Through the marriages his children contracted, including with Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Sir Moses Montefiore, nearly all the leading Jewish families in England were connected with him.[1] In addition, his brother's daughter was Nanette Salomons Cohen, the maternal grandmother of both Karl Marx and Frederik Philips who – with his son Gerard – founded Philips Electronics.[5]
Cohen died in England in 1808.[1]