Edward Coleman Delafield (July 10, 1878 – April 21, 1976) was an American banker and soldier who served as president of the

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

Early life

Delafield was born on July 10, 1878, in

Westhampton, New York Westhampton is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 3,079 at the 2010 census. Westhampton is in the Town of Southampton. Geography Westhampton is located at (40.822894, -72.66 ...

. He was a son of Maturin Livingston Delafield (1836–1917) and Mary Coleman (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Livingston) Delafield (1847–1922). Among his siblings were Maturin Livingston Delafield Jr., Joseph Livingston Delafield, John Ross Delafield) (husband of

Violetta White Delafield Violetta White Delafield, ''née'' Violetta Susan Elizabeth White, (1875–1949) was an American botanist, mycologist, scientific illustrator and horticulturist. (p. 83) Early life Violetta Susan White was born in Florence, Italy to expatria ...

), Julia Livingston (née Delafield) Longfellow, Mary Livingston (née Delafield) Finch, Harriet Coleman (née Delafield) Carter, and Eugene Livingston Delafield. His paternal grandparents were Maj.

Joseph Delafield Joseph Delafield (August 22, 1790 – February 12, 1875) was an American soldier, lawyer and diplomat. Early life Delafield was born in New York City on August 22, 1790. He was the second oldest of the surviving sons and four daughters born to ...

and Julia (née Livingston) Delafield. Her maternal grandparents were Eugene Augustus Livingston and Harriet (née Coleman) Livingston. Delafield graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1899.

Career

After his graduation from Princeton, Delafield went into banking and in 1914 was made vice president of the Franklin Trust Company, followed by president two years later. In 1920, the institution merged with the

. In 1930, Bank of America sold the charter for its

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

affiliate and name to the

Bank of Italy The Bank of Italy (Italian: ''Banca d'Italia'', informally referred to as ''Bankitalia''), (), is the central bank of Italy and part of the European System of Central Banks. It is located in Palazzo Koch, via Nazionale, Rome. The bank's curre ...

, which had merged with the smaller

Bank of America, Los Angeles The Bank of America, Los Angeles, was established in 1923 by Orra E. Monnette, emerging from a series of mergers between Los Angeles–based banks between 1909 and 1923. The formation of BoA L.A. predates the creation of the Bank of America, merg ...

in 1928, under founder Amadeo P. Giannini. In 1931, Delafield's remaining trust company merged with the City Bank Farmers Trust Company. In 1937, he became a founding senior partner in Delafield & Delafield, the investment counselling and

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

member stock brokerage firm. He turned management over to other family members, but returned in 1968 before officially retiring in 1970.

Philanthropy

From 1946 to 1968 Delafield was the Treasurer and a member of the board of trustees of Memorial Hospital for the Treatment of Cancer and Allied Diseases later known as the

Sloan-Kettering Institute Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute– ...

. In 1965, Delafield donated a 13-acre property in Riverdale, known as Fieldston Hill, to

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, which renamed it the Delafield Botanical Garden at

. The parcel was part of an original estate purchased by his grandfather, Maj.

, in 1829 and known as " Fieldston" (after a family seat in Ireland), on the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

, between the southern part of

Yonkers Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

and the Spuyten Duyvil.

Personal life

Delafield was twice married. In 1900, he married Margaretta Stockton Beasley (1878–1952). At the wedding, his brother, Joseph L. Delafield, was the best man, and ushers were his brother, J. Ross Delafield, his wife's cousin

Percy Rivington Pyne II Percy Rivington Pyne II (May 5, 1857 – August 22, 1929) was a banker, financier, and philanthropist. Early life Pyne was born on May 5, 1857, in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Percy Rivington Pyne I (1820-1895) and Albertina Shelto ...

, Alexander M. Hadden, Princeton tennis star Mercer Beasley, III and Robert Southard. She was the niece of

Moses Taylor Pyne Moses Taylor Pyne (December 21, 1855 – April 22, 1921), was an American financier and philanthropist, and one of Princeton University's greatest benefactors and its most influential trustee. Biography The son of Percy Rivington Pyne (182 ...

, a grandson of

Moses Taylor Moses Taylor (January 11, 1806 – May 23, 1882) was a 19th-century New York merchant and banker and one of the wealthiest men of that century. At his death, his estate was reported to be worth $70 million, or about $ billion in today's dollars. ...

and of a family long associated with National City Bank. Before their divorce, Margaretta and Edward were the parents of: * Maturin Livingston Delafield (1901–1945), a stockbroker who married Mary Pierce Lyon (1901–1986) in 1924. After his death, she married John S. Williams in 1947. * Margaretta Stocton "Rita" Delafield (1904–1990), who married William Bergh Kip III (1905–1973) in 1926. * Mary Delafield (1912–1993), who married Albert Ludlow Kramer Jr. (1907–1971) in June 1931. They divorced in 1935. In 1928, he remarried to Clelia C. Benjamin (1903–1995). Clelia, a college friend of his daughter Margaretta, was the daughter of Baroness Rachele Maria Carolina "Carina" (née de Saint Seigne) Benjamin of

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

and Walter Romeyn Benjamin, publisher of ''The Collector'', a journal of autographs and history. Clelia's sister Mary was married to

Harold Gould Henderson Harold Gould Henderson (1889–1974) was an American academic, art historian and Japanologist. He was a Columbia University professor for twenty years. From 1948 through 1952, he was the President of the Japan Society in New York, Henderson, H ...

, her grandfather was Park Benjamin Sr. and her uncle was Park Benjamin Jr. Delafield died at his home in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...

on April 21, 1976.

Descendants

Through his son Maturin, he was a grandfather of Mary Lyon (née Delafield) Hoddick (1931–2005) and Maturin Livingston Delafield (1933–2007). Through his daughter Mary, he was a grandfather Albert Ludlow Kramer III, the

Secretary of State of Washington The secretary of state of Washington is an independently elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of Washington. Fifteen individuals have held the office of Secretary of State since statehood. The ...

from 1965 to 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delafield, Edward Coleman 1878 births 1976 deaths American bankers American financial businesspeople Bank of America people Bank of America executives Directors of Bank of America American chief executives of financial services companies Delafield family Livingston family