James Gerard Kennedy Sr. (February 7, 1907 – December 24, 1997) aka James G. Kennedy, was the founder, president, and chairman of James G. Kennedy & Company, Inc. in New York City.

Biography

James was born in 1907 in

Harlem, New York City Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

, the son of James Joseph Kennedy (1866-1926), a plasterer, and Katherine Carr (1865-1951). Both were immigrants from Ireland. His siblings include: Kathryn Kennedy (1897-1974) aka Sis Kennedy, who married Joseph O'Malley (1893-1985) who was the uncle of Walter Francis O'Malley (1903-1979), the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1950 to 1979; Mary Frances Kennedy (1898-1982); Josephine Kennedy (1899-1900) aka Sarah Kennedy; Thomas Kennedy (1901-1972); James Gerard Kennedy I (1902-1903); and Joseph Kennedy (1905-1983). In 1920 the family was living at West 160th Street in Manhattan. He attended Townsend Harris High School and graduated in three years. He attended the Mechanical Institute in New York City. He then worked as a plasterer, as did his father. In 1935 he founded the eponymous James G. Kennedy & Co., Inc. He served during World War II with the Army Corps of Engineers. His first major renovation project was for

Bankers Trust Bankers Trust was a historic American banking organization. The bank merged with Alex. Brown & Sons in 1997 before being acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1999. Deutsche Bank sold the Trust and Custody division of Bankers Trust to State Street Corpor ...

company for their building at

14 Wall Street Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrele ...

. He married Antoinette Granato (1916-1942) around 1940 and she died of cancer in 1942 after being hospitalized for 2 months. In 1991 his company began reconstruction of the Fifth Avenue headquarters of the American Irish Historical Society.

Death

James died December 24, 1997, in Larchmont, New York.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, James Gerard Sr. American people of Irish descent People from Harlem 1907 births 1997 deaths Townsend Harris High School alumni Businesspeople from New York (state)