Carol Nachman was born on August 14, 1897 in Botosani, Romania. His family was involved in the grain export business in Vienna, among other places.

He experienced a cosmopolitan youth in various European countries and learned to think beyond personal and geographical boundaries. Nachman gained his first commercial experience at the various European grain exchanges. During his numerous travels, he discovered his interest in gambling. As a partner in a small casino in Riga, he turned this passion into his profession in 1922. He conducted further casino business in Belgium and Italy before taking over the renowned casino in Baden-Baden together with a French group in 1933. Due to his Jewish faith, he was forced to leave Germany two years later and became increasingly involved in financial transactions in England, France and the USA before emigrating to Mexico.

In New York in 1941, he met the German fashion designer Grit Lagerquist, whom he married on September 5, 1956. After the war, they both returned to Germany and Nachman applied for the Wiesbaden casino license with his former Baden-Baden partner Edgar Neuland. It was not least his relationship with Eberhard von Selasen-Selasinsky, who had already been involved in the development of the casino in Baden-Baden as spa director and was now working as a consultant for casino matters for the city of Wiesbaden, that enabled Neuland KG, under Nachman's leadership, to take over the concession for the Wiesbaden casino in 1949.

In addition to the reconstruction of the casino, Wiesbaden owes him the internationally renowned Carol Nachman Prize for Rheumatology. This award serves to promote clinical, therapeutic and experimental research work in the field of rheumatology and is awarded to recognized scientists. Nachman also made an important contribution to the establishment and maintenance of numerous social institutions through generous donations.

In gratitude for his financial support and his extraordinary commitment to social projects, the Hessian state capital awarded him honorary citizenship on September 16, 1977. At the ceremony in the town hall, he also signed the city's Golden Book.

Carol Nachman died in Wiesbaden on June 10, 1993 at the age of 95.