Otto E. Dohrenwend (1899–1989) was an

investment banker Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...

from

Scarsdale, New York Scarsdale is a town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several village ...

, best known for his conservative political activism during the 1950s. As chairman of the Scarsdale Citizens Committee, better known as the Committee of Ten, during the 1950s and 1960s, he challenged what he called Communist influence in the Scarsdale public schools. An investigation by the Scarsdale Town Club later rejected these claims. He later drew national attention when challenging the rights of supporters of the

Freedom Riders Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions ''Morgan v. Virginia'' ...

to hold a fund-raising benefit in a public high school auditorium. Dohrenwend was a senior partner in the brokerage firm of Baker, Weeks & Harden from 1936 to 1972. He also served as a member of the national American Legion's Americanism Committee and on the board of trustees of Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York. He was married to the former Constance Wilckes. Dohrenwend graduated from Columbia College in 1917. He became a Knight of Malta in 1950.

References

1899 births 1989 deaths American investment bankers McCarthyism People from Scarsdale, New York Manhattanville College people Columbia College (New York) alumni {{US-activist-stub