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John L. Loeb Jr. (born May 2, 1930) is a businessman, philanthropist, art collector, and former United States Ambassador to Denmark (1981-1983).

Since 1979, Loeb has been chairman of Loeb Rhodes Trust Company successor to John L. Loeb, Jr. Associates, Inc., Investment Counselors. He has sponsored publications and exhibitions on early American genealogy and family histories, and on Danish art. In 2009, he founded the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom, and serves as the chairman of the organization.

Business
Loeb joined Loeb, Rhoades & Co. of New York City in 1956. He was a general partner from 1959 - 1973 and was then a limited partner until the firm’s 1979 acquisition by Shearson Hayden Stone. Through the years, Loeb has served as director and/or chairman on the boards of: Loeb was the founder of and owns the Russian Riverbend Vineyards Ltd., which produces Sonoma-Loeb wines.
 * Holly Sugar Corp – see Imperial Sugar and Great Western Sugar Company. John Morrell and Co.
 * Atlantico del Golfo (Cuban Atlantic Sugar) - see Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company and Loeb, Rhoades & Co.
 * Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and Rio Grande Industries
 * Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Philanthropy
He was a trustee of the Educational Testing Service (ETS) from 1986-1993 and a trustee of American University from 1985-1994. He served for almost 40 years as a trustee and ultimately chairman of the Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation and for almost 30 years on the board of the Museum of the City of New York. Loeb also served on the board of the International Rescue Committee. He in a trustee of the American-Scandinavian Foundation and chairman of the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States (see Churchill Scholarship). He served for several years on the board of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. Loeb served on the visiting committee of the Harvard Board of Overseers to the John F. Kennedy School of Government (1980-1986) and to the Harvard Business School (1968-1979). He is currently vice-chairman of the Council of American Ambassadors. He is most active as founding chair of the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom (GWIRF), a not-for-profit organization promoting understanding of freedom of religion and Separation of church and state in America. The institute’s first project was to design, build, and operate the Loeb Visitors Center on the campus of Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island.

Government Service
On 30 July 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed Loeb to the post of United States Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Denmark. He served in this post until Sept 1983. Upon his return to the United States, he was appointed a Delegate to the 38th session of United Nations. He also served as special adviser to Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller on environmental matters (1967 - 73); chairman of New York State Council on Environmental Advisors (1970 - 75).

Religious Freedom and American Jewish History
Loeb’s philanthropic activities are primarily focused on providing educational resources to teachers and schools on religious freedom in America, and on the history and contributions of American Jews to the cause of religious liberty. The inspiration for these efforts came from George Washington’s “Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, RI” of 1790. Publications and museum exhibitions on these topics have been sponsored through the John L. Loeb, Jr. Foundation, the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom, and by Loeb personally. Projects include:
 * Loeb Visitors Center at Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island.
 * The Jewish Community in Early New York, 1654-1800, an exhibit featured at the Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York City.
 * Tolerance and Identity: Jews in Early New York, 1654-1825. Museum of the City of New York, 2005.

Genealogy
John L. Loeb, Jr. traces one branch of his American ancestry to the colonial period. He has supported genealogical studies and sponsored the following books:
 * An American Experience, Adeline Moses Loeb and Her Early American Jewish Ancestors. Contributors John L. Loeb, Jr., Kathy L. Plotkin, Margaret Loeb Kempner, Judith E. Endelman, and David M. Kleiman with an Introduction by Eli N. Evans. (New York: Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York; Syracuse University Press, 2009)
 * The Lehmans: From Rimpar to the New World, a Family History. By Roland Flade. (Wurzburg Germany: Königshausen & Neumann, 1996).
 * Lots of Lehmans, The Family of Mayer Lehman of Lehman Brothers, Remembered by His Descendants. Edited by Kenneth Libo; foreword by John L. Loeb, Jr. and William Lehman Bernhard. (New York, Syracuse University Press, 2007).
 * The Levy Family and Monticello, 1834-1923: Saving Thomas Jefferson’s House. Dr. Melvin I. Urofsky (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2002).

Danish Art
Loeb began collecting Danish art when he was appointed Ambassador to Denmark. The assembled collection consists primarily of 18th, 19th and early 20th-century paintings, containing representative art from the “Danish Golden Age” (1820-1850), and including paintings by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, Martinus Rørbye, Constantin Hansen,  Christen Købke and Wilhelm Marstrand. The collection also contains paintings from The Modern Breakthrough period (1870-1890) in Danish art, with works by the Skagen Painters and the enigmatic nonconformist Vilhelm Hammershøi. The Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr. Danish Art Catalog In 2005, Loeb commissioned the publication of a catalog of his collection. Full-color images of 128 paintings are accompanied by critical commentary and research on Loeb’s collection by Danish-American art historian Benedicte Hallowell and Danish art historians Elisabeth Fabritius, Suzanne Ludvigen and Mette Thelle. The catalog also contains detailed biographies of the 63 artists represented. It is available in its entirety online at www.loebdanishartcollection.com. Loeb also supported the publication of In Another Light: Danish Painting in the Nineteenth Century, by Patricia G. Berman New York: Vendome Press, 2007.

Early American Jewish Portraiture
In cooperation with the American Jewish Historical Society, Loeb funded the development of The Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Database of Early American Jewish Portraits, containing images of all known painted portraits of American Jews before 1865. The database includes a short biography of each subject along with artist and repository attributions. The database can be accessed at www.loebjewishportraits.org or through the American Jewish Historical Society at www.ajhs.org.

Family, Early Life and Education
Loeb was born in New York City on May 2, 1930, to businessman John Langeloth Loeb Sr. and Frances Lehman. He is a 1952 B.A. cum laude graduate of Harvard College, and received his M.B.A. in 1954 from Harvard Business School. He served active duty as a First Lieutenant in the United States Air Force from 1954-1956. Loeb holds an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Georgetown University Law School.

Awards and Honors
Loeb speaks frequently on religious freedom in America. In 2010, he was invited to deliver the Herbert H. Lehman Memorial Lecture at Lehman College CUNY. He was the first direct relative of Herbert H. Lehman to receive the honor. His lecture, Beyond Tolerance, was an exploration of the history and contemporary relevance of George Washington’s “Letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport Rhode Island”. Amongst others, he has been honored by: •	Recipient of the Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award from the Zionist Organization of America. •	In 1983, he was given the Grand Cross of the Order of Dannebrog by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. •	In 1994, he was decorated by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (C.B.E) in honor of his contributions to the Winston Churchill Foundation.
 * Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York
 * American Jewish Historical Society
 * The John Clarke Society
 * The Hebrew Benevolent Society in Charleston, South Carolina