Elbridge Thomas Gerry (November 22, 1908 – February 26, 1999), known as Ebby Gerry, was an American banker and polo player.Joseph Durso

'' The New York Times'', March 06, 1999

Early life

Gerry was born in New York City on November 22, 1908. His parents were

Robert Livingston Gerry Sr. Robert Livingston Gerry Sr. (May 31, 1877 – October 31, 1957) was an American businessman and owner of thoroughbred racehorses. Early life Gerry was born on May 31, 1877 and was the son of Louisa Matilda Livingston (1836–1920) and Elbridge ...

(1877–1957) and Cornelia Averell Harriman (1884-1966). His brothers were Robert Livingston Gerry Jr., Henry Averell Gerry, and Edward Harriman Gerry. His uncles included New York Governor

W. Averell Harriman William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891July 26, 1986), better known as Averell Harriman, was an American Democratic politician, businessman, and diplomat. The son of railroad baron E. H. Harriman, he served as Secretary of Commerce un ...

and

E. Roland Harriman Edward Roland Noel "Bunny" Harriman (December 24, 1895 – February 16, 1978) was an American financier and philanthropist. Early life Harriman was born on December 24, 1895, in New York City.Kenneth T. Jackson, Lisa Keller, Nancy Flood, ''The En ...

. His great-great-grandfather was

Elbridge Gerry Elbridge Gerry (; July 17, 1744 – November 23, 1814) was an American Founding Father, merchant, politician, and diplomat who served as the fifth vice president of the United States under President James Madison from 1813 until his death in 18 ...

, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the

Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 Colonies of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate (between July 1776 and November 1777) by ...

. Gerry was named after his paternal grandfather,

Elbridge Thomas Gerry Elbridge Thomas Gerry (December 25, 1837 – February 18, 1927), usually called "Commodore" Gerry due to the office he held with the New York Yacht Club from 1886 to 1892, was an American lawyer and reformer who was the grandson of U.S. Vice P ...

(1837–1927), who was usually called "Commodore" due to the office he held with the New York Yacht Club, who co-founded the

New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was founded in 1874 (and incorporated in 1875). It is the world's first child protective agency. It is sometimes called the Gerry Society after one of its co-founders, Elbridge Thomas ...

, sometimes called the Gerry Society. He attended

St. Bernard's School St. Bernard's School, founded in 1904 by John Card Jenkins,www.stbernards.org
- the school's website

, the Aiken Preparatory School in Aiken, South Carolina, St. Paul's School in

Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua. The village of ...

, and Harvard College, where he graduated in 1931. At Harvard, he was the Captain of the polo team.

Career

He started his career in banking at the Hanover Bank in New York. In 1936, he joined Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. During the Second World War, he served as an intelligence officer for Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and rose to the rank of Major. In 1956, he became a general partner of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., and by 1968, he was on the Steering Committee. From 1957 to 1986, he was a director of the Union Pacific Railroad and head of its board's Executive Committee from 1969 to 1986.

Horseracing and polo

He was a founding member and President of the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in

Goshen, New York Goshen is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 13,687 at the 2010 census. The town is named after the Biblical Land of Goshen. It contains a village also called Goshen, which is the county seat of Orange County ...

, where he was inducted in 1975. He was a partner in the

Arden Homestead Stable Arden may refer to: Places ;Australia *Arden, an area in North Melbourne, Victoria near the Arden Street Oval ;Canada * Arden, Ontario ;Denmark * Arden, Denmark, a town **Arden Municipality, a former municipality, including the town of Arden ; ...

with his uncle E. Roland Harriman. The stable produced two winners of the Hambletonian Stakes: Titan Hanover in 1945 and Flirth in 1973. He won the

U.S. Open Polo Championship The US Open Polo Championship is an annual polo championship in the United States. It is organized since 1904 by the United States Polo Association (USPA). History The tournament was first played on September 20, 1904 at Van Cortlandt Park in T ...

and the Monty Waterbury Cup, three times each. He played with

Thomas Hitchcock Sr. Thomas Hitchcock (23 November 1860 – 29 September 1941) was one of the leading American polo players during the latter part of the 19th century and a Hall of Fame horse trainer and owner known as the father of American steeplechase hor ...

and

Stewart Iglehart Stewart Birrell Iglehart (February 22, 1910 – December 19,1993) was a rancher, ice hockey and polo player. He was born in Valparaíso, Chile but moved to the United States at a young age. As a child he learned to play both ice hockey and p ...

. He served as Chairman of the United States Polo Association (USPA) from 1940 to 1946.William Clark Hetherington, ''Six Chukkers Of Love'', AuthorHouse, 2005, p. 12

/ref> He was inducted into the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame on March 15, 1991.

Philanthropy

He served as a vice president and Trustee at The Boys' Club of New York.BusinessWeek
/ref> He also served as Trustee and President of the

, founded by his grandfather,

, in 1875.

Personal life, death and legacy

In 1932, Gerry was married to Marjorie Y. Kane (1909–1999), the daughter of John P. Kane (d. 1949). She attended

Miss Chapin's School Chapin School is an all-girls independent day school in New York City's Upper East Side neighborhood in Manhattan. History Maria Bowen Chapin opened "Miss Chapin's School for Girls and Kindergarten for Boys and Girls" in 1901. The school origin ...

and graduated from the

Ethel Walker School The Ethel Walker School, also commonly referred to as “Walker’s”, is a private, college preparatory, boarding and day school for girls in grades 6 through 12 plus postgraduate located in Simsbury, Connecticut. History Founded in 1911, ...

Simsbury, Connecticut Simsbury is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 24,517 at the 2020 census. The town was incorporated as Connecticut's 21st town in May 1670. History Early history At the beginning of the 17th century, the ...

, in 1927. The wedding took place at the Episcopal Church of St. John of

Lattingtown Lattingtown is a village located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 1,739 at the 2010 census. History The area of marsh along the coast was occupied by a band of Lenap ...

. After the ceremony, the reception took place at High Lindens, the bride's parents house. He had two sons and a daughter: * Elbridge Thomas Gerry Jr. (b. 1933) * Peter Goelet Gerry, Jr., who is a graduate of Harvard College and

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

. He was the co-founder and managing partner of Sycamore Ventures, a private equity and venture capital investment firm. * Marjorie Gerry, who married G. Neal Ryland, the son of William Bradford Ryland, in 1979. Ryland was the

chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

for the asset management unit of

Natixis Natixis is a French corporate and investment bank created in November 2006 from the merger of the asset management and investment banking operations of ''Natexis Banques Populaires'' (Banque Populaire group) and ''IXIS'' (Groupe Caisse d'Epargne ...

. Gerry died at his home in Delhi, New York on February 26, 1999. His wife died shortly after he did. His granddaughter, Averell Tritton Ryland, a client services manager for

The Trium Group The Trium Group (Trium) is a San Francisco, California-based management consulting firm. They specialize in corporate transformation, culture change, restructuring and leadership-driven change management. History Trium was founded in 1998 by An ...

, married Frederick Pennington McFerran, the founder and the chief executive of Knack who is the son of Alexander Y. McFerran, in 2012.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerry, Elbridge T. Sr. 1908 births 1999 deaths Gerry family Businesspeople from New York City Harvard College alumni American bankers American polo players 20th-century American businesspeople St. Paul's School (New Hampshire) alumni St. Bernard's School alumni