Fritz Leonhard Redlich

Fritz Leonhard Redlich (1892–1978) was a German businessman and American economic historian. He was a pioneer of the history of entrepreneurship and the author of a widely respected study of American banking.

Life
Redlich was born in Berlin and educated in Germany, where he obtained his doctorate in economics in 1914, with a thesis supervised by Ignaz Jastrow. Throughout the First World War he served as a cavalry officer, and after it he took over the family business.

In 1936 he left Germany for the United States. Middle-aged, he returned to interests in the history of business and entrepreneurship dating from his student days, and sought an academic position. While teaching at minor colleges in the United States without ever acquiring tenure, he was an early and influential associate member of Harvard University's Research Center in Entrepreneurial History.

He died in Newton, Massachusetts, on 21 October 1978.

Publications

 * Die volkswirtschaftliche Bedeutung der deutschen Teerfarbenindustrie (1914)
 * Reklame. Begriff, Geschichte, Theorie (1935)
 * History of American Business Leaders, vol. 1 (1940)
 * The Molding of American Banking: Men and Ideas (2 vols, 1947–1951)
 * De Praeda Militari: Looting and Booty, 1500–1815 (1956)
 * The German Military Enterpriser and his Work Force (2 vols, 1964–1965)

Recognition and awards
Redlich was awarded honorary doctorates by Erlangen University (1960) and Berlin University (1967).