Article

Joseph Herman Hirshhorn

Published Online June 2, 2008

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Joseph Herman Hirshhorn, mining promoter, art collector (b at Mitau, Latvia 11 Aug 1900; d at Washington, DC 31 Aug 1981). Hirshhorn immigrated at an early age to the US, rising from office boy to stockbroker to entrepreneur. In 1933 he opened an office in Toronto.

Joseph Herman Hirshhorn

Joseph Herman Hirshhorn, mining promoter, art collector (b at Mitau, Latvia 11 Aug 1900; d at Washington, DC 31 Aug 1981). Hirshhorn immigrated at an early age to the US, rising from office boy to stockbroker to entrepreneur. In 1933 he opened an office in Toronto. His reputation in mining circles was mixed; during the war he was arrested as a currency speculator. In the early 1950s Hirshhorn formed a partnership with Franc Joubin, a geologist; together they made the greatest URANIUM strike in Canadian history near Blind River, Ont, and staked it in April and May 1953. The result was the Pronto and Algom mines, which were later consolidated in Rio Algom, a subsidiary of the British firm Rio Tinto. Hirshhorn's great collection of contemporary art is held in the Hirshhorn Gallery in Washington, DC.