Edmund Astley Prentis, Jr. (1883 – March 12, 1967) was an American engineer and art collector. He was a former president of the

American Standards Association The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards Standardization or standardisation is the process of implementing and developing techn ...

Biography

Prentis was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1883. His father, Edmund Astley Prentis, Sr. emigrated from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and worked as textile designer and importer. He graduated from Columbia School of Mines in 1906 as president of his class. After college, he worked in mines in

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Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, and

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before enlisting in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

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. He co-founded the engineering firm Spencer, White & Prentis with his Columbia classmates Lazarus White and Charles B. Spencer. The company became one of the leading foundation and marine engineering and construction companies, and Prentis was involved in the construction of a new foundation for the

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, the

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, a water tunnel under the

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, as well as several Naval drydocks. Prentis was a former president of the

and a member of

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. He also sat on the board of the New-York Historical Society and was a trustee of Columbia University, which awarded him with an honorary doctorate of science in 1956. He was also a recipient of the

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...

Medal and the

Thomas Egleston Thomas Egleston (December 9, 1832 – January 15, 1900) was an American engineer who helped found Columbia University's School of Mines, now the School of Engineering and Applied Science (Columbia University), Fu Foundation School of Engineer ...

Medal for his contributions to his alma mater and achievements in engineering, respectively. Prentis was involved in the recreation of historic rooms for the New Hampshire Historical Society, the New-York Historical Society, the

Shelburne Museum Shelburne Museum is a museum of art, design, and Americana located in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the museum grounds. It is located ...

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, and Columbia University. He was an art collector and his collections were featured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New Hampshire Historical Society. He was also a noted collector of Columbiana, historical items related to Columbia University. His sister, Katherine Prentis Murphy, was also an art collector known for her collection of antiques. The Prentis House at the

was named after the family. He was also the namesake of Columbia's Prentis Hall.

Personal life and family

Prentis died on March 12, 1967, at age 83. He was survived by his wife, son, and four grandchildren. His son, Edmund Astley Prentis III, was a principal in the family firm and a champion croquet player. His grandson, Edmund Astley Prentis IV, was also a croquet player and was the world's full-time croquet professional. Both of them were named to the Croquet Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prentis, Edmund 1883 births 1967 deaths Engineers from New York City American art collectors Columbia School of Mines alumni American people of English descent