Frederic Arnold Kummer

Biography

{ "rewritten_biography": "Born on August 5, 1873, in Catonsville, Maryland, Frederic Arnold Kummer emerged from a lineage of ambition and resilience. His father, Arnold, had migrated from Germany in 1859 and served in the American Civil War before co-founding Kummer & Becker, a Baltimore banking and brokerage firm that doubled as an agency for the North German Lloyd Steamship Line. Though Frederic would eventually become a prolific man of letters, his early career was grounded in the practical world of civil engineering. After graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1894, he climbed the corporate ladder as the chief engineer for the American Wood Preserving Company and later as general manager of the Eastern Paving Block Company. His technical prowess was so distinguished that the American Society of Civil Engineers honored him with the Collingwood prize in 1901 for his scholarly work on wood block paving. In 1907, Kummer pivoted from engineering to professional writing, though his creative spirit had already found expression in painting; two of his maritime scenes were once showcased at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts. His literary career took flight with early works such as 'Mr. Buttles' (1908) and 'The Choice' (1909), followed by a rapid succession of titles including 'Are You a Suffragette?' (1911), 'The Other Woman' (1911), 'A Song of Sixpence' (1913), 'The Painted Woman' (1913), 'One Million Dollars' (1913), and 'The Brute' (1914). His most enduring literary success arrived in 1928 with the publication of 'Ladies in Hades.' Kummer’s personal life saw two chapters: a 1895 marriage to Clare Rodman Beecher in Nutley, New Jersey, which produced daughters Marjorie (who married actor Roland Young) and Frederica before ending in 1903; and a 1907 marriage to Marion J. McLean, with whom he had three children, Marion, Frederick Jr., and Joseph Talbot Tennant Kummer. After a two-year struggle with failing health, the author passed away in Baltimore on November 22, 1943, survived by his wife and all five of his children." }