Edward Behr

Biography

Edward Behr, brother of Henry Behr, bought out Leopold Peck's interest in the piano case manufacturing firm of Behr and Peck in 1876, after which the firm's name was changed to Behr Brothers. From Spillane (1890): Edward Behr was, with his brother Henry Behr, a principal of Behr Brothers, the New York piano house they founded together in 1881. The firm was established with the resolve to build only instruments of the highest grade and to encourage original experiments in piano construction, a policy credited with the firm's rapid rise in the trade. When Behr Brothers & Co. was reorganized as a close corporation on January 1, 1890, with paid-in capital of $450,000, Edward Behr was listed among its incorporators alongside Henry Behr, Emil Hurtzig, Charles L. Burchard, and Siegfried Hansing. The text describes him, together with Henry Behr, as one of the firm's practical heads, on whose direction the company's continued advancement in the piano trade was said to depend.

Highlights

• Brother of Henry Behr; bought out Leopold Peck's interest in the piano case firm in 1876
• The firm was renamed Behr Brothers following his buyout of Peck
• Co-founded Behr Brothers with his brother Henry Behr in 1881
• Named an incorporator and practical head of the firm when it became a close corporation in 1890

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. II (1913), p. 41.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 271, 275.

Public domain.