an ottoman born tobacco entrepreneur from manisa, turkey who became a new york millionaire and left behind a hospital in the city where he was born.
born musa eskenazi in 1855 to a sephardic jewish family, he left manisa as a teenager, learned the tobacco trade in alexandria, then moved to the united states and built schinasi brothers with his brother solomon.
their business imported turkish tobacco and became hugely successful. at one point, around 200 jews from manisa reportedly worked in their new york operation. in 1906, sultan abdülhamid ii awarded schinasi the fourth class order of the medjidie.
he later lived in a marble mansion on riverside drive designed by william tuthill, the architect of carnegie hall. image
but the most interesting part of his story came after his death in 1928.
schinasi left $1 million to establish a hospital in manisa. only $200,000 was meant for construction and equipment. the remaining $800,000 was preserved as an endowment to help keep the hospital running.
his widow helped carry out the plan, and the hospital opened in 1933.
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