Maurice Wertheim (February 16, 1886 – May 27, 1950) was an American investment banker, chess player and patron, art collector, environmentalist, and philanthropist.

He founded his own firm Wertheim & Company in 1927, developing a very successful business in mergers and acquisitions, and becoming wealthy in the process.

Wertheim financed the American participation in the US vs. USSR radio chess match 1945, across ten boards, personally covering travel, site, and broadcast costs.

He acquired 1,800 acres (7.3 km2) of land along the Carmans River on eastern Long Island for personal use to conserve waterfowl and for hunting.

Wertheim amassed a notable collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works that contained many famous masterpieces, including paintings and sculptures by Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent van Gogh.

[7] In his will, he arranged for the donation of his collection of French Impressionist paintings to the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University.

[10][12][13][14] Alma herself had her own philanthropic interests and, in 1923, was one of the founding members of the League of Composers, also subsidizing its journal, Modern Music, with 1500 annually.

Following their divorce, Alma founded and supported Cos Cob Press (eventually bought by Boosey and Hawkes) in 1929 to publish works of contemporary American composers.