William Sperry Beinecke (May 22, 1914 – April 8, 2018) was an American philanthropist and businessman.

Career and philanthropy

Beinecke studied at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

Pingry School The Pingry School is a coeducational, independent, college preparatory country day school in New Jersey, with a Lower School (K–5) campus in the Short Hills neighborhood of Millburn, and a Middle (6–8) and Upper School (9–12) campus ...

, graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1936 and

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

in 1940. He served in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, retiring with the rank of

Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

. In 1952 he joined Sperry & Hutchinson, the company founded by his great-uncle

Thomas Sperry Thomas Alexander Sperry (July 6, 1864 – September 2, 1913) was the co-founder and the "S" of S&H Green Stamps, together with Shelley Byron Hutchinson of Ypsilanti, Michigan. Biography Thomas Alexander Sperry was born in Knoxville, Tenness ...

, which was best known for its

S&H Green Stamps S&H Green Stamps was a line of trading stamps popular in the United States from 1896 until the late 1980s. They were distributed as part of a rewards program operated by the Sperry & Hutchinson company (S&H), founded in 1896 by Thomas Sperry and ...

, and served as chairman and CEO before his retirement in 1980. He was the principal benefactor of the

Yale Golf Course The Yale Golf Course, or Yale University Golf Course, is a golf course in New Haven, Connecticut, owned and operated by Yale University. Yale is home to the men and women's Yale Golf Team and hosts three collegiate invitational tournaments eac ...

and the

William Miller Sperry Observatory The William Miller Sperry Observatory, also known simply as the Sperry Observatory, is an astronomical observatory owned by Union County College and operated by Amateur Astronomers, Incorporated. The observatory is located on the property of Uni ...

Union County College Union College (formerly Union County College) is a public community college in Union County, New Jersey. It was founded in 1933 as the first of New Jersey's public community colleges. The college has four campuses: Cranford, Elizabeth, Plainfie ...

Cranford, New Jersey Cranford is a township in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located southwest of Manhattan. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 23,847, an increase of 1,222 (+5.4%) from the 2010 census count ...

. He was a donor to

Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library () is the rare book library and literary archive of the Yale University Library in New Haven, Connecticut. It is one of the largest buildings in the world dedicated to rare books and manuscripts. Es ...

and also founded the

Central Park Conservancy The Central Park Conservancy is a private, nonprofit park conservancy that manages Central Park under a contract with the City of New York and NYC Parks. The conservancy employs most maintenance and operations staff in the park. It effectivel ...

. He published his memoirs in 2000.

Family

Bill Beinecke was the son of

Frederick W. Beinecke Frederick W. Beinecke (1887–1971) was an American philanthropist who was the founder of Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. He was the son of one of the main financier and one of three co-founders, with Harry S. Black and ...

and Carrie Regina Sperry Beinecke (the daughter of

William Miller Sperry William Miller Sperry (1858–1927) is the namesake of the William Miller Sperry Observatory in Cranford, New Jersey. According to his sworn passport application, he was born on September 14, 1858, in Bristol, Tennessee. He moved to Cranford in 189 ...

) and lived in

, until the age of 11. Beinecke had four children, including the environmentalist

Frances Beinecke Frances G. Beinecke (born August 2, 1949) is an environmental activist and politician. She served as the former president of the Natural Resources Defense Council from 2006 to 2015. Early life and education Beinecke is the youngest of four child ...

. He turned 100 in May 2014.

Death

William Beinecke died on April 8, 2018 at the age of 103.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beinecke, William Sperry 1914 births 2018 deaths American centenarians Men centenarians Central Park Parks in Union County, New Jersey People from Cranford, New Jersey Benefactors of Yale University Philanthropists from New Jersey Yale University alumni Columbia Law School alumni 20th-century American philanthropists