Oscar Philipp was born to an Orthodox Jewish family in Wandsbek, Germany.
[3] In 1901, his brother, Julius Philipp, founded a small metal trading company in Hamburg, where Oscar worked.
[2] In 1914, with the advent of World War I, Siegfried Bendheim, an apprentice, German citizen, and minor partner in Philipp Brothers, avoided internment by the British government by moving to New York City where he established Philipp Brothers, Inc.[2] Oscar was not affected by the war as he had previously obtained British citizenship.
[2] In 1934, Julius moved Philipp Brothers' German operations to Amsterdam due to the rise of Nazi Germany[2] and died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1944.
He served as a chairman of the Bachad fellowship, on the executive committee and council of British ORT, as a joint treasurer of Jews' College, as the treasurer of the London Board of Jewish Religious Education, and the founder of the Hebrew Publishing House.