Benjamin Nathan was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 investor

Investor

An investor is a party that makes an investment into one or more categories of assets --- equity, debt securities, real estate, currency, commodity, derivatives such as put and call options, etc...

 and philanthropist

Philanthropist

A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...

. He was bludgeoned to death in his home in 1870, and the notorious murder

Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

 case remains unsolved despite several trials in the years following his death.

Life and career

He was elected a member of the New York Stock Exchange in 1836, became its vice-president in 1851. He served as a director of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad and the Ninth Avenue Street Railway. He also served on the first Board of Directors for Jews' Hospital. He was also President of Shearith Israel.

In 1849 he we promoted to colonel and named aide-de-camp

Aide-de-camp

An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...

 to New York State Governor Hamilton Fish

Hamilton Fish

Hamilton Fish was an American statesman and politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York, United States Senator and United States Secretary of State. Fish has been considered one of the best Secretary of States in the United States history; known for his judiciousness and reform efforts...

. Supreme Court Judge Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, his nephew, was born the year Nathan died and was named after him. Nathan's wife Emily G. Nathan died in 1879. They had seven children, including Frederick Nathan and Washington Nathan.

Studies in Murder, a 1924 true crime

True crime

True crime is a non-fiction literary and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people.The crimes most commonly include murder, but true crime works have also touched on other legal cases. Depending on the writer, true crime can adhere strictly to...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by Edmund Pearson

Edmund Pearson

Edmund Lester Pearson was an American librarian and author. He was a writer of the "true crime" literary genre. He is best-known for his account of the notorious Lizzie Borden murder case.-Biography:...

, is about the murder.