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 After
his death in 1914, Mr. Langeloth's Last Will and Testament
instructed his executors to found and maintain a convalescent
home. Mr. Langeloth's intent was to help professionals
of modest means to recuperate from accidents or illnesses
and return them as quickly as possible to their families,
jobs, and communities.
Beginning in 1997, The Langeloth Foundation broadened
its grant-making program which continues to be focused
on promoting physical and emotional healing. The foundation's
grant program and its current guidelines
are outlined on this website.
The Langeloth Foundation was founded in 1914 with a
bequest from Jacob Langeloth who was Chairman of The
American Metal Co., Ltd.
Langeloth arrived in London from Mannheim in the fall
of 1873 with a sound knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping,
an ability to speak English and French, and a familiarity
with office routines. He was hired by Wilhelm Merton
of Henry R. Merton & Co. Ltd.,  who,
together with Jacob Langeloth, reorganized a family
partnership in Frankfurt and formed, in 188l, the Metallgesellschaft
A/G (Metal Company, Incorporated).
 Later,
Merton and Langeloth in London, along with Messrs. Ladenburg,
Thalmann & Co. in New York, created in 1887 The
American Metal Company, Ltd. This business merger was
conceived by Langeloth who, as a deputy member of the
Executive Board of Metallgesellschaft, was directly
responsible for the formation of The American Metal
Company, Ltd., a three-cornered international group.
The American Metal Company, Ltd., remained an affiliate
of Metallgesellschaft until 1914.
Jacob Langeloth, who had arrived in New York in mid-April
of 1887, was elected President of The American  Metal
Company, Ltd., in January of 1888 serving until October
1911 when he became Chairman until his death in 1914.
Jacob Langeloth, raised as a Lutheran, became an agnostic
and was an accomplished musician and an outspoken freethinker.
He was a man of great compassion who took a particular
interest in the plight of people afflicted by illness
and accident.
He died unexpectedly in 1914 at the age of 62 at the
outbreak of World War I in 1914. His Last Will and Testament
directed his executors to found and maintain a convalescent
home to be known as Valeria Home, in honor of his wife.
 It
was to serve as a recreation and convalescent home for
people who could not afford the charges at health resorts
and sanatoria. His intent was to enable professionals
of modest means to recuperate from accidents or illnesses
in pleasant surroundings and to return as quickly as
possible to their families, jobs, and communities.
The Valeria Home in Westchester County, New York, served
convalescing men and women for some six decades. However,
following World War II, with the advent of medical insurance
to cover convalescent care and the availability of inexpensive
air travel which permitted men and women to recuperate
in warmer climates, attendance at Valeria Home dwindled.
In 1977, the property was sold, and the proceeds passed
to the newly named Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation.
The Foundation, acting on Langeloth’s commitment
to the subject of convalescence, provided funds for
two decades to hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation
centers and other such institutions in New York State
to help meet the medical costs of recovering patients. |
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