Pfaff, William

Submitted by Mike Miller

William Pfaff more than thirty-five years ago founded as one of the partners a small printing concern in New Orleans. It was a one-room shop, but for many years its facilities have been measured by a complete printing and book binding plant, capable of handling practically every contract for commercial printing and catalog work. Mr. Pfaff has continuously been the master printer and executive in charge of the affairs of this going concern, which is known as Searcy & Pfaff, Ltd.

Mr. Pjaff was born at New Orleans, November 24, 1871, son of William and Sidonie (Gansz) Pfaff, his mother a native of St. Louis, Missouri, while his father was born in Eschwege, Prussia, and as a young man came to America, marrying in St. Louis. In l858 his family home was established in New Orleans. William Pfaff, Sr., was a notary public, and was an employe of the New Orleans Custom House after the Civil war. He died during the yellow fever epidemic of 1878. He and his wife were Presbyterians, and for many years he was secretary of Hiram Lodge No. 70, F. and A. M.. a member of the Turnverein and Liedertafel, and was a republican in politics. He was regarded as one of the best read Shakespearin scholars in New Orleans. His widow survived him until 1899, and of their ten children five are living, William being the eighth born.

William Pfaff was seven years old when his father died, and the next four years were spent in the Seventh Street Orphans Home, where he was taught the knowledge represented in acquaintance with the fourth reader and simple arithmetic. Being under the necessity of doing something to earn his own way and assist his widowed mother, he accepted employment in a printing shop, working at first for a salary of a dollar a week. A printing shop has long been regarded as the equivalent of the best university of this world, and probably no one has profited more by its cultural advantages than William Pfaff of New Orleans. His industry and personal talents were transformed by his contact with the printing business to make him first a good printer and later a good business man.

On November 1, 1889, Mr. Pfaff, then only eighteen years of age, became associated with his brother-in-law, David J. Searcy, in the operation of a little job printing establishment occupying one room on the third floor of a building on St. Charles Street, near Gravier. In successive years the facilities of the firm were increased, taking in first an additional room, then the entire floor and part of another floor and in 1903 the firm bought a two-story building at 724-728 Perdido, and in 1918 acquired an adjoining building and in 1924 purchased a three-story modern structure at Lafayette and Dryades streets.

In the Searcy & Pfaff, Ltd., was incorporated, beginning with a capital of twenty thousand dollars, while the business now represents and investment of more than two hundred thousand dollars in capital. David J. Searcy, the senior partner, died in 1901, and Mr. Pfaff has been active in the affairs of the concern from the beginning. A number of the employes have been with the establishment twenty years or more. Mrs. D. J. Searcy is now president of the corporation, David R. McGuire is vice president, while William Pfaff is secretary-treasurer, and two of his children are also in the firm.

What his career has represented in real achievement is concisely stated in the words of one who has long been acquainted with him: "What Bill Pfaff has done in a business way has been done and will he done by others in many cases. What he has done in character building and the development of personality has seldom been duplicated. He is more nearly the Benjamin Franklin of today that any person the writer has ever met. Blessed with a wonderful disposition, Bill Pfaff has a store of native wit and lively humor, supported by an uncanny memory, makes him a fascinating companion.

"He is an outstanding figure in his own city, a header by sheer weight of worth. A man of most humane and philanthropical tendencies, he is connected with a score of charitable enterprises and gives to them most freely of his time and money. His standing among the business men of the city may be judged from the fact that he is president of the New Orleans Association of Commerce."

Mr. Pfaff on October 21, 1891. married Miss Corinne H. Sievers, a native of New Orleans. They have four children: William S. and Mrs. William H. Briede, both of whom are associated with their father's business; Miss Corinne A. and Miss Genevieve P., both graduates of the New Orleans High School. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Mr. Pfaff being president of the Board of Trustees of the Parker Memorial Church. He is a York and Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, being a life member of the Scottish Rite. Outside of the printing business he is president of the Union Homestead Association, with five million dollars of assets; is vice president of the American Bank & Trust Company, and is an executive councillor of the United Typothetae of America, having been closely identified with this organization of printers for many years. he is president of the Board of Prisons and Asylums at New Orleans; is chairman of the finance committee of the State Charity Hospital, and is treasurer of the Community Chest.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 356-357, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.