Emil "Bus" Mosbacher Jr. (April 1, 1922 – August 13, 1997) was a two-time America's Cup-winning

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

sman, the founding chairman of

Operation Sail Operation Sail refers to a series of sailing events held to celebrate special occasions and features sailing vessels from around the world. Each event is coordinated by Operation Sail, Inc., a non-profit organization established in 1961 by U.S. Pres ...

, and

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during the administration of President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

Life and career

Mosbacher was born in

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...

. He was the brother of Robert Mosbacher Sr., also a champion yachtsman, and

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during the administration of President

George Herbert Walker Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; p ...

. He was the son of Gertrude (née Schwartz) and Emil Mosbacher Sr., a wealthy stock trader who divested himself of his holdings just before the

Wall Street Crash of 1929 The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange coll ...

and who, as a member of the Knickerbocker Yacht Club, helped formulate specifications for the Interclub class of racing sloops. His family was of German Jewish descent. "Bus" Mosbacher graduated from

The Choate School Choate Rosemary Hall (often known as Choate; ) is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Choate is currently ranked as the second best boarding school and third best private hi ...

(now Choate Rosemary Hall) in 1939 and from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

in 1943. During World War II, Mosbacher served on a Navy minesweeper in the Pacific. In the 1940s and 1950s he oversaw his family's oil, natural gas and real estate business. Mosbacher is best known for his yacht racing. In 1962, even before his two America's Cup victories, he was described by

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as "the finest helmsman of our time." As a schoolboy sailor he had been Junior Champion of Long Island Sound sailing an

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, and at Dartmouth he led the sailing team to two Intercollegiate Championships (the McMillan Cup 1941 & 42). During the 1950s he won eight consecutive Long Island Sound season championships in the International One-Design Class, and in 1959 he was Southern Ocean Racing Conference (SORC) champion. In 1958 he and Warner Wilcox founded the Mamaroneck Frostbite Association, for racing 9' Dyer Dhows in winter, in response to discrimination by some of the yacht clubs against having Jewish members. Mosbacher successfully defended the America's Cup in 1962 at

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

in the sloop ''Weatherly'', and again in 1967 in the

12-metre class The 12 Metre class is a rating class for racing sailboats that are designed to the International rule. It enables fair competition between boats that rate in the class whilst retaining the freedom to experiment with the details of their designs. ...

yacht '' Intrepid''. Mosbacher was appointed

shortly before President Nixon's inauguration in 1969 and served until 1972. He was founding chairman of

, which brought hundreds of tall ships to New York during the

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in 1976. He was also an organizer of Operation Sail events in 1986, marking the centennial of the Statue of Liberty, and 1992, marking the cinquecentennial of

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's voyage. His numerous other offices included Commodore of the

New York Yacht Club The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. ...

, chairman of the

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at Stanford University, and directorships of Chemical Bank, Chubb, Abercrombie & Fitch, and other companies. Mosbacher died in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast, Greenwich is home to many hedge funds and other ...

Awards

In 1967 Mosbacher received the Martini & Rossi trophy, thereby becoming the United States' sailor of the year along with Betty Foulk. In 1986, he received the Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...

. Mosbacher was elected into the inaugural class of the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 1993 and the inaugural class of the U.S. National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mosbacher, Emil 1922 births 1997 deaths American male sailors (sport) American people of German-Jewish descent Businesspeople from New York (state) Choate Rosemary Hall alumni Dartmouth Big Green sailors Dartmouth College alumni Hoover Institution people Jewish American sportspeople Jewish sailors (sport) Members of the New York Yacht Club Nixon administration personnel People from White Plains, New York United States Navy personnel of World War II US Sailor of the Year 1962 America's Cup sailors 1967 America's Cup sailors Chiefs of Protocol of the United States