Ahnentafel of Sam Bankman-Fried

Why? He's in the news and I was curious. And a double-barrelled surname is irresistible. This is the FTX angle we've all been missing!

Not clear that Mr. SBF deserves free genealogical research, but as the man (and later the woman) once said: deserve’s got nothing to do with it. And maybe I feel guilty complimenting anything associated with the guy right now, but it’s an interesting tree! You’ve got three or four solid generations of professionals and petite-bourgeois, a mix of Lithuanian, Romanian, and German Jewish immigrants, the earliest of whom arrived in America way back in 1855. But there’s a plurality of Litvaks.¹ All four of his grandparents were university graduates, and two of his great-grandparents had advanced degrees.

The Laskers (staring with SBF’s great-grandmother at #15) are a Rabbinic family of ancient lineage in Prussia (modern-day western Poland). I wasn’t planning on spending two years researching this genealogy, so you’ll have to rely on someone else’s work. I don’t vouch for it but there are some indicia of reliability, which is to say it looks pretty solid to me.

1. Sam Bankman-Fried, * 6 Mar. 1992, Stanford, Cal. Possibly in some legal hot water.

2. Alan Joseph Bankman, * 1955, Rock Park, Ill. Professor at Stanford University Law School.

3. Barbara Helen Fried, * 1951, Manhattan. Professor at Stanford University Law School.

4. Arnold Jack Bankman, * 21 Sept. 1914, Virginia, Minn.; + 25 July 1996, Lakewood, Cal. An advertising manager for a Minneapolis camera studio in 1950. President of Cinarco Camera Company.

5. Bernice Shirley Steinfeldt, * 25 July 1915, + 17 June 2008, Hollywood, Fla. Graduate of the University of Minnesota. Her first husband, Herman Grossman, was a wholesale thermostat salesman out of Minneapolis.

6. George Maxwell Fried, * Mar 1918, Passaic, N.J. or Brooklyn. In 1940, while living with his sister’s family in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, he was a professor’s assistant. Joined the army right before WWII and was honorably discharged as a staff sergeant. Social investigator for the department of welfare in 1950, later administrator in the New York State Supreme Court probate division.

7. Adrienne Gottlieb, * 11 Mar. 1921, New York, + 5 Apr. 2009. Musicologist, biographer, feminist scholar. Specifically a scholar of the American composer Amy Beach. Married second to Arthur J. Block.

8. Benjamin Bankman, * 18 June 1876, Lithuania, Russian Empire, + 1 July 1957, Virginia, Minn . Immigrated to the U.S. in 1896. Clothing and dry goods merchant in the Minnesota iron range—c.f., selling shovels in the gold rush.

   Married 23 May 1905, in St. Louis, Minn.:

9. Ethel Lippman, * 1881, Yurburg (Jurbarkas), Lithuania, Russian Empire, + 30 Oct 1962. Immigrated to the U.S. in 1904 aboard the Graf Waldersee.

10. Abraham Arnold Steinfeldt, * 1889, Romania, + 21 Mar. 1949, Minneapolis. Graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1911 at age 18. Dentist in Brainerd, Minn.

    

    The UM yearbook editors in their infinite drollery describe “Abe” as “age 18, complexion blonde, nationality swede, profession baseball and vaudeville.” His alphabetical neighbor was slapped with “Dutch, but not his fault.”

    Married, 15 Jan. 1915, in Minneapolis:

11. Pearl B. Numerofsky, * 8 Nov. 1894, Minnesota, +3 Nov. 1987, Minneapolis. Her brother Joe Numero founded Thermo King.

12. Morris A. Fried, * 7 Jul. 1878, Russia. In 1920 a manufacturer of suits. Immigrated in 1898. By 1940 he had moved to Westchester, where he owned a retail grocery, but he was back in Bensonhurst by 1950.

    Married 11 Feb. 1912, in the Bronx:

13. Rosa S. Green, * May 1891, Philadelphia. As an 18-year old in Garfield, N.J. she was a bookkeeper at a factory.

14. Mark Jacob Gottlieb, *9 Dec. 1885, Montrose, Penn., +19 Dec. 1938, Manhattan. Graduated NYU School of Medicine in 1909. Otolaryngologist in Yonkers and Manhattan. He died at the Hotel Pennsylvania of barbiturate poisoning. Sounds like a story there.

    Married 17 Sep. 1914 at the Savoy Hotel in Manhattan:

15. Rosalind Lasker, * 11 May 1891, Manhattan; + Sept. 1983, Manhattan. Of 807 Riverside Drive.

16. Yehuda Yitzhak Benkman, per his son’s gravestone. He was perhaps the Yehuda Yitzhok Binkman from Vishtinets (Vištytis) who donated to charity in 1871. The latter is surely identical to Judel Icko Benkman who appears as a religious taxpayer from the same town in 1866. Beniamin Benkman, likely his father, also appears in 1866. They were both “workers.”

17. Bosha (probably Basya)

18. Meyer Eliyahu (“Myron”) Neiwidel Lippman, * 10 Sep 1848, Yurburg, + 23 Oct. 1916, Virginia, Minn. A merchant, immigrated in 1904 aboard the Graf Waldersee and was prosperous enough to cross the Atlantic on multiple occasions (ancestry courtesy of Joel Alpert’s 2011 work).

19. Zelde Yesner, * 1847, Lithuania, Russian Empire, + 8 Feb. 1929, Virginia, Minn.

20. Hirsch (“Herman”) Mendel Steinfeldt, * c. 1860, Bacău, Romania; + bef 1930. Left the port of Hamburg on 29 Nov. 1898 with his entire family on the Pennsylvania. The family appears in the 1900 census under the name “Stanfield.” Unclear whether that’s the census takers error or a later abandoned attempt at anglicization. Ran a Minneapolis tailor shop.

    

    Thanks to findagrave for this one. This photo is on his gravestone.

21. Lena Kulberg, * c. 1870, Bukovina, Austrian Empire; + 28 Aug. 1941, Los Angeles.

22. Charles (or Andrew) Numerofsky, * c. 1 Sept. 1866, Russia; + 24 Jul. 1922, Minneapolis. A metal dealer, then fruit confectioner in Minneapolis. Imm. 1877.

    Married 22 Oct. 1893, in Minneapolis:

23. Anna Sobelman, * c. 1876, Russia; + 12 Aug. 1945, Minneapolis. Online trees say she was a daughter of Aaron Sobleman (of Beltz, Bessarabia and Minneapolis) and Bunci Fiterman, who died in Bessarabia. That’s possible, even likely, but it relies on private family records so I’m leaving it out.

24. George Fried

25. Grunil Chituan—or at least that’s how the name appears in the vital records of the western hemisphere. Her actual name may be close to this or it may be nothing at all like it.

26. Solomon Green, June 1874, Russia; + bef. 1910. He was an underwear maker in Philadelphia, immigrating in 1890.

27. Sophie Flamen, * Jan. 1877, Russian Poland; + . Imm. 1890. Owned and operated a dry goods store in Garfield, N.J. after her husband’s death.

28. Simon Gottlieb, * 6 Oct. 1848, Kalvaria (Kalvarye in Yiddish), Congress Poland (now Lithuania); + 9 Apr. 1915, Asuncion, Paraguay. Immigrated to America aboard the Witchwater out of Liverpool in 1862. A merchant with interests in Central and South America, where he traveled often and ultimately settled down. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1866, where he would have served in Kansas, Colorado, and Oklahoma, and was honorably discharged in 1869.

    Married 25 June 1882, Rochester, N.Y.:

29. Sarah Lillian Marcusse, * 24 Jan. 1863, Russia; 29 Apr. 1934, Brooklyn. Of 922 E 15th St. and 207 Moffat St., Brooklyn. She filed for a Civil War Pension in 1884 (for invalidity) and 1930 (as a widow), so Simon must have served in the Union Army as well.

30. Moses Lasker, * c. 1853, Prussia; + 30 Jun. 1920, Manhattan. Of 1878 7th Ave., Manhattan. Owner of meatpacking plant. Imm. 1855.

    Married 10 Dec. 1886, at Rodeph Shalom on Clinton St:

31. Hattie Schweriner, *c. 1864, Prussia; + 10 Jul. 1940, Manhattan.

32. NN Bankman

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36. Yacov Naividel, * c. 1825, Yurburg (Jubarkas), Lithuania, Russian Empire, +

37. Olga, * c. 1825.

38. Moshe Yesner, possibly went by Lippman, in which case it’s also possible his son-in-law took his wife’s surname (he was known both by Neividel and Lippman during his lifetime). Possible in turn Moshe took his own wife’s surname (Yesner).

39. Perla

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42. R. Osias Kulberg, * 15 Aug. 1834, Romania, + 27 May 1912, Minneapolis. Rabbi of the Sons of Abraham congregation in Minneapolis. Imm. 1894 aboard the Suevia.

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58. Mark Marcuse, + bef. 1886 (birth of grandson Marcus)

59. Jenny E. Rubin

60. R. Myer Lasker, * c. 1805, Prussia; settled first in Cincinnati and removed to Brooklyn in the 1860s.

61. Hannah Raphael, * 23 Sept. 1813, Prussia; + 7 May 1900, Manhattan. Death cert. calls her dau. of “Abraham Saul” and “Fannie.” She is called “Hannah Carger” in the marriage record of son Aaron Lasker.

62. Herman Schweriner

63. Rachel “Rose” Karger

64. NN Bankman

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72. Aaron Naividel Orel, * c. 1787

73. Belia

Now a few boring notes:

• I did not cite my sources because then I probably wouldn’t have done this at all. I did not rely on public family trees unless otherwise stated. You can probably take some of these lines further using secondary sources, and if you’re disposed to do so, have at it. But please don’t believe them blindly.

• This should properly be called “Notes Towards an Ahnentafel of Sam Bankman-Fried.” You could probably spend a few more hours with each of these people and find out some new fascinating things, not to mention a few errors and typos. And if you’re interested, you should!

• You can find photos of his parents and grandparents on the internet, but it somehow feels more decorous to leave them out of this as much as possible.

• There are usually ten different ways to spell the names of the Jews of Eastern Europe—Hebrew, Yiddish, Yiddish nickname, Slavic nickname, Yiddish but transliterated into German spelling, English…I’m trying to stick to one or two here, but I’m not being systematic. Sorry.

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1. Potential band name?