Max Gerlach

Max von Gerlach (born Max Stork Gerlach; October 12, 1885 – October 18, 1958) was a German-born American bootlegger and an acquaintance of American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. After serving as an officer in the American Expeditionary Force during World War I, Gerlach became a gentleman bootlegger who operated speakeasies on behalf of gambler Arnold Rothstein in New York City. Gerlach's bootlegging activities soon made him a millionaire.

Flaunting his newfound wealth as a bootlegger in New York, Gerlach threw lavish parties, never wore the same shirt twice, used the phrase "old sport", claimed to be educated at Oxford University, and fostered outlandish myths about himself, including that he was a relation of the German Kaiser. Many of these details about Gerlach inspired Fitzgerald's creation of Jay Gatsby, the titular character of his novel ''The Great Gatsby''.

With the end of prohibition and the onset of the Great Depression in the early 1930s, Gerlach lost his immense wealth. Living in reduced circumstances, he attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head in 1939. Blinded after his suicide attempt, he lived as a helpless invalid for many years. Gerlach died on October 18, 1958, at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. He was buried in a pine casket at Long Island National Cemetery. Provided by Wikipedia