Salem Fields Cemetery

Salem Fields Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery located at 775 Jamaica Avenue in the Cypress Hills neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, United States, within the Cemetery Belt. It was founded in 1852 by Temple Emanu-el.

The main entrance to Salem Fields Cemetery

The entrance sign at Salem Fields Cemetery

Salem Fields is the final resting place for many of the prominent German-Jewish families of New York City. Among those laid to rest in the cemetery are members of the Fox family, founders of 20th Century Fox Film Corp.; the Guggenheim family of mining, newspaper, and museum fame; the Lewisohn family of mining, banking, and philanthropic interests; and the Shubert family, builders of the largest theatre empire in the 20th century.

Architectural historian Fredric Bedoire, Professor at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Stockholm, compared the "beautiful" Salem Fields to the architecturally notable mausoleums and undulating landscape of Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.[1] Architect Henry Beaumont Herts designed the Guggenheim family mausoleum, modeled after the Tower of the Winds at Athens. The entrance of Salem Fields was designed by Henry Fernbach, Central Synagogue's architect.[2]

Salem Fields is part of a larger complex of cemeteries spanning into the borough of Queens, including likewise Jewish Machpelah Cemetery, where Harry Houdini is buried; Union Field Cemetery; Mount Judah Cemetery, where several prominent Rabbis lie; Mount Carmel Cemetery; and the non-denominational Cypress Hills Cemetery and Cemetery of the Evergreens.

Notable burials

• William Fox (producer) (1879–1952), founder of the Fox Film Corporation

Lip Pike

• Richard James Horatio Gottheil (1862-1936), founder of Zeta Beta Tau
• Joseph P. Greenhut (1843-1918), merchandiser
• Harry Frank Guggenheim (1890–1971), newspaper magnate
• Meyer Guggenheim (1820–1905), mining industrialist
• Solomon Robert Guggenheim (1861–1949), mining industrialist, philanthropist, art patron
• George E. Jonas (1897-1978), businessman and philanthropist who founded Camp Rising Sun.
• Adolph Lewisohn (1849–1938), mining magnate, banker, art collector, philanthropist; younger brother of Leonard Lewisohn
• Leonard Lewisohn (1847–1902), mining magnate, banker, philanthropist; older brother of Adolph Lewisohn
• Bob Marshall (1901–1939), wilderness activist, forester, author
• Louis B. Marshall (1856–1929), constitutional lawyer, conservationist, Jewish leader, father of Bob Marshall
• Lipman Emanuel Pike (1845–1893), first Jewish player in Major League Baseball
• Simon F. Rothschild (1861–1936), businessman
• Joseph Seligman (1819–1880), banker, businessman
• Isaac Newton Seligman (1855–1917), banker, businessman
• Edgar Selwyn (1875–1944), playwright, theatrical director and producer
• Jacob J. Shubert (1879–1963), theater owner and operator, director, producer
• Lee Shubert (1871–1953), theater owner and operator, producer
• Samuel S. Shubert (1878–1905), playwright, theater owner and operator, producer
• Isaac Siegel (1880–1947), U.S. Congressman from New York
• Felix M. Warburg (1871–1937), financier, philanthropist
• Albert Warner (1884–1967), co-founder of Warner Bros.

See also

• List of cemeteries in the United States

References

1. The Jewish Contribution to Modern Architecture, 1830-1930, Fredric Bedoire, Ktvv, 2004, p. 426-7
2. The Jewish Contribution to Modern Architecture, 1830-1930 By Fredric Bedoire page 426