Henry M. and Elizabeth P. Wiesenfeld Professorship

HENRY M. WIESENFELD, A&S 1928, was a Baltimore native and successful businessman. During his senior year at Johns Hopkins, Mr. Wiesenfeld assumed management of his family’s saddlery and sporting goods business upon his father’s death. Under Mr. Wiesenfeld’s leadership, the company continued to prosper. Eventually, he closed its store at Howard and Baltimore streets but continued to operate a mail-order saddlery business. He sold the business in the early 1960s and became comptroller for a local printing firm.

Mr. Wiesenfeld attributed his philanthropy to Johns Hopkins University to his deeply held belief in the importance of higher education. He was profoundly grateful for his own education at Johns Hopkins and the impact it had on his life. Another possible motivation for his gift was the special history between his grandfather and Mr. Johns Hopkins. Mr. Hopkins once extended an interest-free loan to Mr. Wiesenfeld’s grandfather, enabling him to re-establish himself following the Civil War.

Mr. Wiesenfeld died on December 2, 2004; his wife, ELIZABETH P. WIESENFELD, died in 1990. The two professorships honoring Mr. and Mrs. Wiesenfeld were established through their estates.