Hermann Oelrichs (June 8, 1850 – September 1, 1906)^[1] was an American businessman, multimillionaire, and agent of Norddeutsche Lloyd shipping.

Oelrichs was born on June 8, 1850, in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the son of German-born Henry Ferdinand Oelrichs (1810–1875), a senior partner in the firm of Oelrichs & Lurman, and Julia Matilda (née May) Oelrichs (1819–1879), who was born in Washington, D.C. His siblings included Charles May Oelrichs and Henry Oelrichs.^[1]

Oelrichs was the grandson of Gesche Catharina (née Holler) Oelrichs and Johann Gerhard Oelrichs, a German merchant in Bremen. The Oelrichs came to America from Bremen around 1830.^[2] His grandfather later married a daughter of statesman Harrison Gray Otis. His maternal grandparents were Julia Matilda (née Slacum) May and Frederick May, who was a member of the May family, prominent in Virginia and Maryland during the American Revolutionary War.^[2] His uncle, Henry May, was a U.S. Representative from Maryland, and the father of Lilian May, who married William Bagot, 4th Baron Bagot in 1903.^[3]

He graduated from Yale University,^[4][5] where he was on the rowing team.^[6]

His firm, Oelrichs & Co.,^[1] became the U.S. agent of the Norddeutsche Lloyd ("North German") shipping company.^[4]

Oelrichs was also a member of the Democratic Party and active in New York City politics, even declining to run for Mayor of New York City,^[7] before moving to San Francisco, California. The Oelrichses played a role in the rebuilding of San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake as part of the Committee of Fifty.^[1]

In the 1890s, the Oelrich's purchased Rose Cliff on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, from the estate of George Bancroft and his wife commissioned architect Stanford White to build them a new residence.^[8] The resulting Rosecliff was modeled after the Grand Trianon at Versailles, and was completed in 1902 with a final cost of $2.5 million.^[9]

In 1889, the almost forty year old Oelrichs met Theresa Alice Fair ("Tessie"), daughter of United States Senator and Comstock Lode millionaire James Graham Fair, while playing tennis at the Newport Casino.^[7] They married a year later in 1890.^[10] Her younger sister Birdie was married to William K. Vanderbilt II,^[11] son of Alva and William K. Vanderbilt and brother of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough, in a wedding that was extensively covered in the society pages.^[12][13] In New York, they lived at 1 East 57th Street in "the big house at the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifth-seventh Street," which was later occupied by the New York Trust Company.^[8] Together, they were the parents of one child:

• Hermann Oelrichs Jr. (1891–1948),^[14] who married Dorothy Haydel (1893–1961)^[15] in 1925.^[16] After his death, she married Prince Ferdinand of Liechtenstein (1901–1981) in 1950.^[17] He served as a lieutenant (junior grade) in the U.S. Navy during the First World War.^[14]

Oelrichs died on September 1, 1906, aboard SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse while sailing across the Atlantic Ocean.^[1] After his body was returned to the United States,^[18] his remains were interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City.^[19] He left his full estate to his brother Charles May Oelrichs, thinking that Tessie would be content with her own fortune,^[20] but Tessie contested the will.^[21][22] Eventually, they settled the dispute and she received half of the estate.^[23][12] His widow died in Newport on November 22, 1926.^[8]