Was McGraw hill started or owned by Jews?

1. Origins and founders: a teacher and a publisher, not a documented religious identity

Primary histories and McGraw Hill’s own about pages state the company began when James H. McGraw purchased the American Journal of Railway Appliances in 1888 and later combined book departments with John A. Hill to form the McGraw‑Hill Book Company in 1909; those sources identify the founders by name and role but do not provide information about their religious background ^{[1] [2] [3]}. Secondary timelines and encyclopedic entries likewise recount McGraw’s background as a teacher and Hill’s technical publications work and describe the merger and later family leadership—facts about corporate origin and succession are well documented in these sources ^{[5] [6] [7]}.

2. Family control and corporate continuity: McGraw family leadership documented

Multiple corporate histories show that the McGraw family retained leadership across generations—Harold W. McGraw Jr. and Harold “Terry” McGraw III are named as family members who ran the company—confirming the company’s continuity under the McGraw family rather than any claim of an early Jewish founder or owner in the materials provided ^{[7] [8]}. These accounts track acquisitions, product expansion, and a notable hostile‑takeover defense in 1979 that kept ownership within the family’s control, again without discussion of religious identity ^{[6] [9]}.

3. Robert Maxwell connection: a short‑lived joint venture, not lasting ownership

Reporting and fact checks note that media magnate Robert Maxwell entered a joint publishing venture with McGraw Hill in 1989, but McGraw Hill regained full ownership of that venture by 1993; fact‑checking outlets explicitly rebut claims that Maxwell—or by implication his family—ever became enduring owners of McGraw Hill ^{[3] [4]}. The fact check specifically addresses and rejects a circulating claim tying Maxwell or his descendants to current ownership, stating McGraw Hill has no ongoing ties to the Maxwell family ^[4].

4. What the sources do and do not support about religion and ownership

The assembled sources document who founded McGraw Hill, how it grew, and who led it across decades, but none of the provided documents supply evidence about the religious identities of the founders or past owners; therefore it is not supported by these sources to assert McGraw Hill “was started or owned by Jews” ^{[1] [2] [3]}. Where a specific ownership claim has circulated—linking Robert Maxwell to McGraw Hill—contemporary fact checks in the reporting supplied show that claim to be misleading because McGraw Hill became sole owner of the venture in 1993 ^[4].

5. Bottom line and caveats

On the factual question, the company was started by James H. McGraw and John A. Hill and passed through McGraw family leadership and later corporate changes; the sources provided do not identify the founders or principal owners as Jewish, and they explicitly refute the popular claim that Robert Maxwell (or his family) currently owns McGraw Hill ^{[1] [7] [4]}. Because the supplied reporting does not include personal religious information about the founders or owners, definitive statements about individual religious identities cannot be made from these sources alone; the responsible conclusion from the available material is that there is no evidence here that McGraw Hill was founded or ultimately owned by Jews ^{[1] [3] [4]}.