The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Drexel, Anthony Joseph
(drk´sl) (KEY) , 182693, American banker and philanthropist, b. Philadelphia. He entered (1838) at an early age the well-known banking firm of Drexel and Company, founded by his father, Francis Martin Drexel, an Austrian immigrant. Anthony became a partner, and later under his dominant leadership the firm expanded extensively. Drexel Institute (now Drexel Univ.), opened in 1892, was the most important of his many philanthropies.