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Louis Bamberger (1855-1944) was the epitome of the merchant prince as public benefactor. Born in Baltimore, this son of German immigrants built his business - the great, glamorous L. Bamberger & Co. department store in Newark, N.J. - into the sixth-largest department store in the country. A multimillionaire by middle age, he joined the elite circle of German Jews who owned Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and Filene's. Despite his vast wealth and local prominence, Bamberger was a reclusive figure who shunned the limelight, left no business records, and kept no diaries. He remained a bachelor and kept his private life and the rationale for his business decisions to himself.Yet his achievements are manifold. He was a merchandising genius whose innovations, including newspaper and radio ads and brilliant use of window and in-store displays, established the culture of consumption in twentieth-century America.