Franz Viktor Grünfeld, also known as Frank Victor and Franz Grunfeld, was born November 11, 1895 in Berlin to Ludwig Grünfeld and Gertrud (nee Goldstein). He grew up comfortably in Berlin, along with his sisters Edith and Thea. After a stint in the German army during World War I, he attended the University of Greifswald. In 1923, he obtained his doctorate with the dissertation Working conditions in the Silesian textile industry . Between 1914 and 1939, Grünfeld was a partner in the family textile company FV Grünfeld, Landeshuter Leinen und Gebildweberei. In the 1920s, Grünfeld married Elli Neumann.
In 1939, Grünfeld and his family fled Germany for the United States, and settled in New York City. In 1944, he became a United States citizen and adopted the nom de plume Frank Victor. He worked as a draftsman and founded his own textile company, Lyonset Inc, but his main dedication was to graphology, the study of handwriting as a means of determining personality traits. Grünfeld was active in the field at both the theoretical and practical levels. He wrote extensively and corresponded with leading graphologists, and also provided handwriting analysis services to companies and individuals. The best-known of his books is Handwriting: a personality projection (1952) . He died in October 1965 and was buried in Zurich.
Source: Collection
From the guide to the Franz Viktor Grünfeld Collection, 1911-1965, bulk 1956-1960, (Leo Baeck Institute)
