Lewis Ginter
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Major Lewis Ginter (1824 - October 1, 1897) was a prominent businessman, army officer, and philanthropist in Richmond, Virginia
Of Dutch ancestry, he was born Lewis Guenther in New York City, New York, he moved to Richmond, Virginia in 1842. Ginter had a number of careers, arguably making and losing a fortune three times. Ginter amassed a great fortune in the tobacco industry via new technology for rolling cigarettes. He used this massive fortune to act as a philanthropist and for the development of civic and business interests in Richmond. He developed the neighborhood Ginter Park and brought the Union Theological Seminary there. His niece Grace Arents continued his philanthropy, spurring the development of St. Andrew's School, the Instructional Visiting Nurse Association and the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden at her home Bloemendaal.
He served with the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, rising to rank of Major. His residence Ginter House sits on the Monroe Park campus of Virginia Commonwealth University.
Hired on to the John Allen & Co, he became a partner of the Allen and Ginter tobacco company that ushered in a number of innovations including cigarette cards and the use of local Virginia tobacco. In 1890 Ginter's company joined forces with James B. Duke to form the American Tobacco Co..
