Family of American Jewish industrialists, public servants, and philanthropists. Mayer Guggenheim (1828-1905) came to the U.S. from Switzerland in 1847. By 1900, he and his seven sons controlled one of the country’s great mining empires in Colorado. Simon Guggenheim (1867-1941), the sixth son, was U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1907 to 1913. He established the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, with endowments of more than $10 million to aid scholars and artists. Solomon Guggenheim (1861-1930), a collector of non-objective paintings, set up a fund “for the promotion of art and education in art.” Daniel (1856-1930), Mayer’s second son, contributed to the development of aviation. Together with his son, Harry Frank, who was U.S. Ambassador to Cuba from 1929 to 1933, Daniel established a foundation for aeronautical research. Other beneficiaries of Guggenheim aid include the New York Botanical Gardens, the New York Guggenheim Concerts, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the Hebrew Union College.