The New International Encyclopædia/Lick, James

​LICK, James (1796–1876). An American philanthropist, born in Fredericksburg, Pa. He learned the trade of a pianoforte manufacturer, and followed the business in Philadelphia, Buenos Ayres, Valparaiso, and other places. In 1847 he settled in California, where he invested in real estate. The profits on this investment were very large, and in 1874 he placed $3,000,000 in the hands of seven trustees, to be devoted to certain specified public and charitable uses. He twice appointed a new board of trustees. Lick’s principal bequests were: To the University of California for the erection of an observatory, and procuring therefor a telescope superior to and more powerful than any before constructed, $700,000; to found an old ladies’ home in San Francisco, $100,000; for the erection and maintenance in San Francisco of free public baths, $150,000; for the erection of three groups of bronze statuary, representing three periods in the history of California, to be placed before the city hall of San Francisco, $100,000; to erect in Golden Gate Park a bronze monument to Francis Scott Key, $60,000; to found and endow the California School of Mechanic Arts in San Francisco, $540,000. See Lick Observatory.

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