Drexel, Anthony Joseph (1826-1893), was an influential American financier and philanthropist. He founded Drexel University in Philadelphia and helped establish the international bank of Drexel, Morgan & Company.
Drexel was born in Philadelphia on Sept. 13, 1826, the second of three sons. He entered the banking business at the age of 13. In 1847, he became a partner in Drexel and Company, a Philadelphia banking firm founded by his father, Francis Martin Drexel. Anthony Drexel became head of the firm in 1863 and turned it into one of the world’s leading banks. Under his leadership, the company opened offices in Paris, London, and New York City. Drexel and Company was among a small group of investors who helped finance the American inventor Thomas Edison’s Edison Electric Company, the construction of the Panama Canal, and major American railroads. In 1871, Drexel convinced the American banker J. P. Morgan to form a new banking partnership in New York, Drexel, Morgan & Company.
Anthony Drexel, along with his close friend George William Childs, was a co-owner of the Philadelphia Public Ledger daily newspaper (1836-1942). Drexel was fond of both art and music, but he devoted his life to the study and practice of finance. He became one of the most shrewd and successful financiers of his day. But Drexel was also remembered as a kindhearted and generous employer.
In 1891, Drexel established a lasting monument to his family name, the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry. In 1936, it was renamed Drexel Institute of Technology, and in 1970, Drexel University.
Anthony Drexel died on June 20, 1893, in Carlsbad, Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. His niece, Katharine Mary Drexel, became a Catholic saint.
