Christopher Rhinelander Robert (March 23, 1802 – October 28, 1878) was an American philanthropist from

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, who founded

Robert College The American Robert College of Istanbul ( tr, İstanbul Özel Amerikan Robert Lisesi or ), often shortened to Robert, or RC, is a Selective school, highly selective, Independent school, independent, mixed-sex education, co-educational Secondary ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, in 1863, arguably the oldest American school outside the United States.

Biography

Robert was born on March 23, 1802, in Brookhaven,

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, New York. His mother was Mary Tangier Smith (1763–1829) and his father, Dr. Daniel Robert III (1742–1804). He served five years as a shipping clerk in New York City before starting a business for himself in New Orleans. In about 1830 he returned to New York and started a partnership with Howell Lewis Williams (1792–1872). The company was Robert & Williams and they described their business as "Commissioning Business; the buying and selling of merchandise and the refining of sugar". Robert remained the senior partner until he retired in 1862. In 1830 he married Anna Maria Shaw (1802–1878); they had four children, Jane, Christopher, Frederick, and Howell. The children were christened at the Presbyterian Brainerd Church in Rivington Street, New York. This church was founded by Robert in 1835 and he recruited,

Asa Dodge Smith Asa Dodge Smith (September 21, 1804 – August 16, 1877) was an American Presbyterian preacher who served as the 7th president of Dartmouth College from 1863 until his death in 1877. Dartmouth Presidency After the forced resignation of Nath ...

to be the Pastor. Robert became the superintendent of the Sabbath School, and he was also a ruling elder in the Laight Street, New York, Presbyterian Church. Robert came into contact with the

American Home Missionary Society The American Home Missionary Society (AHMS or A. H. M. Society) was a Protestant missionary society in the United States founded in 1826. It was founded as a merger of the United Domestic Missionary Society with state missionary societies from ...

in about 1829 when he asked them to provide a minister for a mining settlement in Galena. This began an association that lasted for nearly 40 years during which time he was a supporter, counselor, and treasurer. He also provided bursaries for many theological students and funded Beloit, Lookout Mountain, and Hamilton colleges and a seminary at Auburn. On 1856 Robert met

Cyrus Hamlin Cyrus (Persian: کوروش) is a male given name. It is the given name of a number of Persian kings. Most notably it refers to Cyrus the Great ( BC). Cyrus is also the name of Cyrus I of Anshan ( BC), King of Persia and the grandfather of Cyrus t ...

when visiting

. From this meeting came the founding of the

with the financial backing of Robert and others. He also left provision in his will for the support of the college. Robert was a stockholder in the

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. In 1857 the then president, George Dwight Phelps, accused several of the managers and the treasurer of conflicts of interest. In particular, this concerned contract was made between them and the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Robert was appointed to investigate the matter and came into conflict with Phelps who later resigned. In 1858 Robert was appointed the president of the railroad, and remained so until he retired in 1863. He died in

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, France, on October 28, 1878. In 1898, Robert's son, Christopher, died of a gunshot wound. It was assumed that he committed suicide but there were some unexplained circumstances. Christopher had been a junior partner in his father's firm and had married Margaret McCrea in about 1860. She was the sister of Mary McCrea, wife of sugar refiner Robert L. Stuart.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robert, Christopher 1802 births 1878 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American philanthropists Philanthropists from New York (state) Businesspeople from New York City Turkey–United States relations