Anthony Rudolph Kuser (May 12, 1862 – February 8, 1929) was a businessman and philanthropist who donated the land that makes up New Jersey's highest point and had the monument there built as a war memorial.
Early life
Anthony Rudolph Kuser was born on May 12, 1862, in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. He moved with his family at age 5 to
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.Mercer
Mercer may refer to:
Business
* Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925)
* Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City
* Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader, ...
automobiles, Rudolph Victor Kuser (1865–1931), Louise Kuser (1867–1951), and Benedict Charles Kuser (1870–1930).
He was educated in the parochial schools of Newark and of Hamilton township public schools where he studied engineering.
Career
He organized the Trenton Hygeia Ice Company, the Trenton Brewery Company, and was instrumental in consolidating all the gas and electric companies of Trenton. Along with his twin brother, John L. Kuser, he was the leading spirit in the purchase of the Trenton Street Railway Company.
He was president of the South Jersey Gas and Electric Lighting Company, and he originated the idea of manufacturing coke at Camden, and of piping the gas to Trenton. At the time, it was the longest piping line of its kind in the world.
In 1889, he was appointed the personal staff of Governor
Leon Abbett
Leon Abbett (October 8, 1836December 4, 1894) was an American Democratic Party politician and lawyer who served two nonconsecutive terms as the 26th Governor of New Jersey from 1884 to 1887 and 1890 to 1893. His official state biography refers to ...
, where he received a nickname of "Colonel". He would serve in a similar capacity for Governors
George T. Werts
George Theodore Werts (March 24, 1846January 17, 1910) was an American attorney, judge, and Democratic Party politician who served as the 28th governor of New Jersey from 1893 to 1896.
His term in Governor coincided with the precipitous declin ...
and
John W. Griggs
John William Griggs (July 10, 1849 – November 28, 1927) was an American lawyer and Republican Party politician, who served as the 29th governor of New Jersey, from 1896 to 1898. As Governor of New Jersey Griggs gained a reputation for siding wi ...
. He served on the board of railroad assessors and was nominated for state senator from Mercer county, but refused to accept.
In 1909, he financed the Kuser-
William Beebe
Charles William Beebe ( ; July 29, 1877 – June 4, 1962) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, marine biologist, entomologist, explorer, and author. He is remembered for the numerous expeditions he conducted for the New York Zoological S ...
Expedition to study birds in
Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
, the
Malay States
The monarchies of Malaysia refer to the constitutional monarchy system as practised in Malaysia. The political system of Malaysia is based on the Westminster parliamentary system in combination with features of a federation.
Nine of the states ...
,
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
,
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. In 1916, he also gave $100,000 to fund a series of volumes on pheasants.
In 1910, he purchased the High Point Inn from the estate of Charles St. John and proceeded to remodel it into his personal home although he rarely used it.
In 1915, he lent $200,000 to William Fox to establish Fox Film Corporation, later merged into
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
. He would remain on the Fox board until his death.
Personal life
On December 1, 1896, he married Susie Fairfield Dryden (1862–1932), daughter of Senator and
Prudential Insurance
Prudential Financial, Inc. is an American Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, retirement planning, investment management, and other products and services to both Investor#Retail_investor, retail and i ...
founder John Fairfield Dryden. Together, they had two children, both of whom grew up in the family mansion in
Bernardsville, New Jersey
Bernardsville () is a borough in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough is nestled in the heart of the Raritan Valley region. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 7,707,
which still stands:
*
John Dryden Kuser
John Dryden Kuser also known as Dryden Kuser (September 24, 1897 – March 3, 1964) was a New Jersey politician and a member of an influential New Jersey family. He was the son of Colonel Anthony R. Kuser and grandson of Senator and Prudenti ...
(1897–1964), a New Jersey state senator who was the first husband of
Brooke Astor
Roberta Brooke Astor (née Russell; March 30, 1902 – August 13, 2007) was an American philanthropist, socialite, and writer who was the chairwoman of the Vincent Astor Foundation, established by her third husband, Vincent Astor, son of John Ja ...
(1902–2007)
*Cynthia Dryden Kuser (1910–1985), who was first married to Theodore Wilhelm Herbst, with whom she had a daughter (born 1943). After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Cynthia served as a translator in refugee work in Europe and managed Dryden Press in New York. She later married Arthur Hinkley Earle (1896–1971), but had a relationship with Victor Kravchenko (1905–1966), a
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
defector with whom she had two sons, Anthony (born 1947) and Andrew (born 1950).
In 1916, a Kuser, bought a 250 acre estate in Bernardsville, New Jersey called Blythewood from Henry Rudolph Kunhardt (1860–1923) that was designed by
Henry Rutgers Marshall
Henry Rutgers Marshall (22 July 1852 – 3 May 1927) was an American architect and psychologist. In 1881, Marshall married Julia Robbins Gillman, who died prematurely in 1888. He had one daughter with Gillman, who also predeceased him. Marshall wa ...
and thought to be worth at least $250,000. After they purchased the home, they had it renovated by
Hoppin & Koen
Colonel Francis Laurens Vinton Hoppin (October 7, 1866 – October 9, 1941) was a prominent American architect and painter from Providence, Rhode Island.
Early life
Hopping was born on October 7, 1866 in Providence, Rhode Island. He was a son of ...
and renamed Faircourt. In 1921, the Kuser's were drugged in their sleep and robbed of $20,000 in jewels.
On February 8, 1929, Kuser died at his estate, Los Incas, a 12-bedroom six-acre oceanfront palazzo estate in the
Venetian style
Venetian Gothic is the particular form of Italian Gothic architecture typical of Venice, originating in local building requirements, with some influence from Byzantine architecture, and some from Islamic architecture, reflecting Venice's tradin ...
in
West Palm Beach
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
. His funeral was attended by many of the days most important men, including the ambassador to Spain and two former governors. After buying the property from subsequent owners in 1978, Los Inca's was torn down by
Robert W. Gottfried
Robert W. Gottfried (May 15, 1926 – May 26, 2007) was an American home builder, developer and real estate entrepreneur whose signature French Regency-style residences remain sought-after, highly prized addresses in world-famous Palm Beach, Flor ...
and replaced it with 10 demi-ones which sold for about $3 million each.
Philanthropy
In 1922, he donated his home at High Point along with for a state park. In 1927, he selected an architect to design a war memorial on the summit to be modeled on the
Bunker Hill Monument
The Bunker Hill Monument is a monument erected at the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill in Boston, Massachusetts, which was among the first major battles between the Red Coats and Patriots in the American Revolutionary War. The 221-foot (67 m) gran ...
. The obelisk was still under construction when he died at his estate in West Palm Beach in 1929. Kuser's mansion at High Point fell into disrepair and was torn down in 1995.