The Whitney Family

William Collins Whitney, S&B 1863

William C. Whitney was one of the business partners of American Tobacco Company financier Thomas Fortune Ryan when he first came to New York City in the 1870s. (How Ryan Rose In Wall Street. New York Times, Nov. 24, 1928.)

William Collins Whitney (1841-1904), Skull & Bones 1863, was corporation counsel of New York City from 1875 to 1882. He supposedly helped to reorganize the City's legal and financial affairs and helped prosecute the Tweed Ring [However, his sister's father-in-law was a director of the Tweed Ring's favorite bank; he dropped the 14 indictments against William E. King et al.; and the City ultimately had to pay the bank for the money that the Ring stole -cast]. He was Secretary of the Navy from 1885 to 1889. His wife, Flora, was the "favorite sister" of his old Yale buddy, Oliver Hazard Payne. His two sons, Harry Payne Whitney and [William] Payne Whitney, joined Skull & Bones in 1894 and 1898, respectively. His daughter Dorothy married banker Willard Dickerman Straight, advisor to railroad magnate E.H. Harriman. The Straights founded The New Republic, and Dorothy was instrumental in founding The New School for Social Research. (William Collins Whitney (1841-1904). Whitney Gen.org .) His assistant, George P. Andrews, succeeded him as corporation counsel. (Personal Gossip. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, Nov. 18, 1882.) Dan Lamont was "apparently in practical command of the great fortunes of William C. Whitney, Oliver Payne, and the rich Philadelphians who make up the syndicates which the ex-private secretary to Mr. Cleveland directs." "Mr. Lamont's pervading idea in life is to keep as much out of sight as possible. Nobody ever sees him, and yet he is a power that is felt down town." His office was in the Mills building. (Wall Street Sketches. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, Apr. 4, 1891.)

William C. Whitney was a director of the Guaranty Trust from its reorganization in 1892 until ?1898; Harry Payne Whitney took over from 1899 to 1930; and Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney was a director from 1926 to 1940.

He was a director of the Guggenheim Exploration Company, the Cuba Company, and several other banks and corporations. (Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Academical Year ending in June 1904, pp. 60-62.)

The Electric Vehicle Company - A Monopoly That Missed. By John B. Rae, Associate Professor of History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.) "It began with an understandable but nevertheless unnecessary error of judgment regarding the prospects of the electric automobile and grew into an attempt at monopoly with overtones of a large-scale bucket shop operation. When it became evident that the gasoline car was going to be the dominant type after all, the Electric Vehicle group tried to establish a privileged position for itself by exploiting the nuisance value of the Selden patent. It was, in short, a parasitical growth on the automotive industry, and its demise was regretted only by those unfortunate enough to hold its securities." William C. Whitney and his longtime cronies P.A.B. Widener, Anthony N. Brady, and Thomas F. Ryan were key players.

The obituary of Marshall Field (1835-1906) says that William C. Whitney was one of his playmates in Conway, Mass., where "[t]he elder Mr. Whitney was postmaster of the village." (Marshall Field Dead; His Fortune $150,000. New York Times, Jan. 17, 1906.)

Charles Tracy Barney

"Mr. Barney was the son of a rich father. A.H. Barney was President of the United States Express Company before T.C. Platt's day, and left a fortune of several millions. Charles T. Barney was born in Cleveland, Ohio on Jan. 27, 1850. He went to Williams College and was graduated in the class of 1868. He was married soon afterward to Miss Lilly Whitney, a sister of the late William C. Whitney." After Whitney finished his service as Corporation Counsel of New York City, he and Barney formed the Knickerbocker Trust in 1884. He owned a lot of real estate in Washington Heights. His daughter Helen married Archibald Alexander, and his daughter Katherine married Courtlandt Dixon Barnes. Son Ashbel H. Barney graduated from Yale nine years before, and James W. Barney graduated from Yale in 1900. (C.T. Barney Dies, A. Suicide. New York Times, Nov. 15, 1907.) His father, Ashbel H. Barney, was a director of the Tenth National Bank of New York, along with members of the Tweed Ring. Later, when William C. Whitney was Corporation Counsel of New York City, he contrived to make the City pay the bank for money that the Tweed Ring stole. Whitney also dropped the 14 indictments against William E. King.

The Panic of 1907: "The panic was a bank panic, but the banks’ losses and runs on their deposits were caused at least in substantial part by bank speculation in securities. The Aldrich-Vreeland Act of 1908, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, and finally the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, all were designed to respond to this irresponsible banking environment. At the time though, no effective federal mechanism existed to control the banks. The intervention was led by the nation’s de facto central banker, J.P. Morgan, asked by the administration to save the American money supply as he had during the gold crisis of 1895. The story is well-known of Morgan’s hasty return from an Episcopal retreat in Richmond, Virginia, and the all-night meetings at the Morgan mansion on Fifth Avenue, attended by George Baker of the First National Bank, James Stillman of the National City Bank, E.H. Harriman, and other financial luminaries, with Morgan demanding the infusion of funds by each of the attendees in order to shore up the failing trusts. (Morgan refused to support Knickerbocker because of its particularly bad behavior and heavy demands. Its president, Charles T. Barney, committed suicide, but every account of the story suggests that perhaps Mr. Barney had not been his own executioner.)" (Chapter Six. From Trusts Emergent From Regulating Trusts to Regulating Securities. By Lawrence Mitchell.)

Oliver Hazard Payne

Oliver H. Payne's father, Henry B. Payne, was a friend of Abraham Lincoln's opponent, Stephen A. Douglas. Payne was defeated by Salmon P. Chase in the Ohio Governor race in 1857. He campaigned for Horace Greeley in the 1872 presidential election; and was elected to the US Senate in 1884. (Henry B. Payne Dead. New York Times, Sep. 10, 1896.) Oliver H. Payne was reportedly a school classmate of John D. Rockefeller in Cleveland, to whom he sold his oil refining firm, Clark, Payne & Company, in 1872 (Famous Esopians. Colonel Oliver Hazard Payne. Klyne Esopus Museum accessed 12/31/2005.)

Oliver H. Payne had been William C. Whitney's classmate at Yale, but he left to get involved in the Civil War. "Having been cured of a serious illness by physician Alfred Loomis, Payne became interested in assisting the medical profession. In 1887 he endowed the Loomis Laboratory in New York City for teaching and research in chemistry, biology, and pathology. In 1889 he donated $500,000 to found Cornell Medical School, and his subsequent donations to the school totaled over $8 million. He gave New York University $150,000 for its medical school and $100,000 each to New York City's Post-Graduate Hospital and to the University of Virginia and Western Reserve University to establish laboratories of experimental medicine. He also donated $1,000,000 to Lakeside Hospital in Cleveland, $200,000 to Saint Vincent's Charity Hospital at Cleveland, and $200,000 to the Cleveland Jewish Orphan Asylum." (Oliver Hazard Payne. Marist College E-Business.)

"In 1884 James B. Duke moved to New York and opened a cigarette factory, intending to develop a tobacco market in the North. Shortly thereafter, he met Oliver Payne, who suggested that instead of fighting his North Carolina competitors, he buy them out. American Tobacco was the result." (Oliver Hazard Payne's business activities. Marist College Center for E-Business.) Payne himself had been the second largest refiner in Cleveland when Rockefeller bought him out, and he subsequently became one of the major partners of Standard Oil. In 1884, the partners began looking for ways to invest their money.

Col. O.H. Payne was a member of the reorganization committee of the Richmond & West Point Terminal Railway and Warehouse Company, along with Frederick P. Olcott of the Central Trust. (Display Ad 18. New York Times, Jan. 10, 1892 p. 14.) Olcott was the financier behind Anthony N. Brady of the Tobacco Trust. Oliver H. Payne and Grant B. Schley were directors of the Manhattan Trust Company (Display Ad 15. New York Times, Jan. 21, 1901 p. WF8.) Payne and Schley were also directors of the Chase National Bank. (Annual Bank Elections. New York Times, Jan. 13, 1904.)

Henry Farnam Dimock, Skull & Bones 1863

H.F. Dimock married William C. Whitney's sister, Susan. His father was Dr. Timothy Dimock (MD Yale 1823), a practicing physician in Coventry, Conn. He was elected a trustee for life of Cornell University in 1899, but declined. He was elected an alumni member of the Yale Corporation the same year. (Bulletin of Yale University, Obituary Record of Yale Graduates 1910-1911, pp. 48-49.) He was a director of the Knickerbocker Trust Company, along with his nephew, Charles T. Barney. (Display Ad 14. New York Times, Apr. 20, 1890 p. 14), and the National Bank of North America (Adv. 43. The Independent, Dec. 19, 1901.) He was a member of the University Corporation, the governing body of N.Y.U., when New York University Medical College was formed from the merger of New York Medical College and Bellevue Hospital Medical College: "The meeting was held in the National Bank of North America, William F. Havemeyer, President of the bank, being a member of the corporation. Other members present were William Allen Butler, who presided; Chancellor Henry M. MacCracken, Henry F. Dimock, Chairman of the University Committee of the Corporation; William S. Opdycke, William A. Wheelock, Charles E. Miller, I.C. Pierson, Cyrus C. Miller, Dr. John P. Munn, David Banks, and John McCreery." The Faculty of Medicine included Drs. E.G. Janeway; John Pixley Munn [later chairman of the United States Life Insurance Company]; H.P. Loomis, W.T. Lusk, W.M. Polk, and W.G. Thompson. (Medical Colleges Unite. New York Times, May 15, 1897.)

William T. Lusk, Yale 1859

Dr. William Thompson Lusk (1838-1897) left college at the end of his freshman year, but was enrolled with his class by the action of the Corporation in 1872. He studied medicine in Heidelberg and Berlin from 1858 to 1861, and on his return enlisted as a private in the Cvil War. He resigned as a captain in 1863, resumed his medical studies at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, and received his MD in 1864. He married Mary Chittenden and studied four more years in Europe, then began his practice in New York City. He was Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Bellevue from 1871 until his death, and President of the Faculty since 1890. His older son was a professor at Yale, and his younger son was associated with his practice. (Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Academical Year ending in June, 1897, pp. 37-38.) He was said to have left a fortune of over $3,000,000. (Death of Mr. Wm. T. Lusk. New York Times, June 13, 1897.) His two sons were William Chittenden Lusk, Yale 1890, and Dr. Graham Lusk (honorary M.A. 1896).

Henry Dimock's daughter, Susan M. Dimock, married Cary Talcott Hutchinson of St. Louis. (A Day's Weddings. New York Times, May 1, 1901.) He was a cousin of Burton N. Harrison, S&B 1859. They were divorced in 1912, and Hutchinson married the widow of Sen. McComas of Maryland. (Mrs. M'Comas to Marry. Washington Post, May 5, 1922.)

After her husband died, Mrs. Dimock moved to Washington, DC, and became a leading socialite: "Political parties have their bosses who run things which pertain to government. These are men. On the other hand these same political parties have bosses who run things which pertain to social affairs. These are the women. Nowhere in this country is this so pronounced as in Washington.... Mrs. Richard H. Townsend, who is conceded to be the social mentor of the smart residence set, known as the 'cave dwellers' in the capital, will open her residence in Massachusetts avenue with the beginning of the season and with few exceptions the same group of charming women will gather about her as have in the past years, and take their usual place of prominence, the change of administration making no difference. Among them is Mrs. Robert McCormick, her sister, and her granddaughter, Mrs. Robert W. Patterson, and Countess Cyzleki, Mme. Christian Hauge, widow of the former Minister of Norway to the United States, Mrs. John Hays Hammond, Miss Mabel Boardman, Mrs. Robert Hitt, Mrs. Marshall Field, Mrs. Henry C. Corbin and her sisters, the Misses Patten, Mrs. Hope Slater, Mrs. Stephen B. Elkins, Mrs. Billy Hitt, formerly Katherine Elkins, Miss Mary Sherrill, Mrs. Thomas F. Bayard, Mrs. Hennen Jennings, Mrs. James McMillan, Mrs. Preston Gibson, Mrs. Thomas F. Walsh and her daughter, Mrs. Edward Beale McLean, Mrs. Henry F. Dimock, Mrs. Mary McCallum, and others." (New Social Bosses of the Nation's Capital. By Mary E. Noyes. Los Angeles Times, Nov. 23, 1913.)

Cornell University Medical College

"The Whitney family role began with Oliver Hazard Payne, the greatuncle of John Hay Whitney and an associate of John D. Rockefeller in the early days of the Standard Oil Company. ''Colonel Payne,'' as he was called, helped establish Cornell Medical College and contributed $8.5 million toward its expansion. A bachelor who died in 1917, he left much of his fortune to his nephew and heir, Payne Whitney, who purchased the land along the East River between 68th and 70th Streets to provide an appropriate site for the two medical institutions. The hospital and college in the late 1920's were moving toward a partnership but lacked a home for their expanding activities. Payne Whitney, who contributed $42.7 million, died in 1927, but his son, John Hay Whitney, continued the family's traditional support. It was the son, Jock, as he was known widely, who wielded a shovel at ground-breaking ceremonies on June 17, 1929, for today's medical complex, known throughout the world for its research, training and health care. Including the new bequest, Mr. Whitney provided $21 million in gifts. His late sister, Joan Whitney Payson, gave $8.3 million, and members of the fourth generation of Whitneys are continuing financial support and are also active members of the hospital's boards." New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center received $15 million from the estate of John Hay Whitney in 1982. (Medical Center Gets $1.5 Million Whitney Gift. By Kathleen Teltsch. New York Times, Oct. 24, 1982.)

In 1898, a majority of the faculty of the New York University Medical College rebelled over the transfer of college property to the university corporation, and announced that they would found a new medical college at Cornell University. (Medical Men Secede. New York Times, Apr. 12, 1898.) "It was reported to-day that the donor of the fund to establish the new Cornell Medical College in New York is Col. Oliver H. Payne of that city... H.F. Dimock, representing Col. Payne, was present at the meeting of Trustees here yesterday. The amount of the endowment fund, it is said, will aggregate nearly $500,000. Col. Payne has always taken great interest in medical work, and has been a member of the Board of Trustees of New York University." Physicians and surgeons of New York University Medical Faculty who received appointments to professorships in the Cornell Medical College included William M. Polk, who is to be Dean; Lewis A. Stimson; Prof. R.A. Witthaus, W. Gilman Thompson, H.P. Loomis, and George Woolsey. (Cornell Medical College. New York Times, Apr. 16, 1898.) "The event of the year, and one of the epoch-making events in the whole history of Cornell University, was the establishment of the Medical College" by Col. Oliver H. Payne, to be located in New York City. Roswell P. Flower succeeded the late Henry W. Sage as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Cornell. (Cornell's Annual Report. New York Times, Oct. 30, 1898.)

Dr. Lewis Atterbury Conner (1867-1950, Yale 1887) "was the founding president of the New York and American Heart Associations (AHA). Dr Conner was the founder of the American Heart Journal, America’s first medical subspecialty journal, and the official publication of the American Heart Association until 1950, when Circulation was created. Conner spent more than a half-century on the staff of the New York Hospital and Cornell University Medical College and was Chairman of Medicine from 1916 to 1932." Dr. Paul D. White was a member of the first editorial board of the Journal. Conner was Thompson's successor as Professor of Medicine at Cornell. He was editor-in-chief of the AHJ until 1937. (Lewis A. Conner: Cornell's Osler. By Jeffrey Fisher MD. Circulation 2000 Aug;102(9):1062-1067.) His father, Charles H. Conner, was a brother-in-law of William W. Atterbury (1866-1935, Yale 1886), President of the Pennsylvania Railroad and a director of the Guaranty Trust, while Dr. Stimson's mother was Atterbury's sister. (Lewis Atterbury Conner Ph.B. 1887. Bulletin of Yale University, Obituary Record of Graduates of the Undergraduate Schools Deceased during the Year 1950-1951, pp. 100-101; and (Bulletin of Yale University, Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Year 1935-1936, pp. 140-141; Dr. L. Conner Dies. New York Times, Dec. 4, 1950.)

"In 1915, when heart disease for the first time surpassed tuberculosis as New York City's leading cause of death... Drs. Lewis A. Conner, Robert H. Halsey, John Wyckoff, Haven Emerson, and a few colleagues" established the Association for the Prevention and Relief of Heart Disease, which later became the New York Heart Association." (To the American Heart Association on its 40th Anniversary. New York Heart Association 1963-64 Annual Report.)

Dr. Henry Patterson Loomis (1859-1907, Princeton 1880) was the son of Dr. Alfred Lebbeus Loomis (1831-1895.) Henry P. Loomis married Dr. Lewis A. Stimson's sister, Julia J. Stimson. (Re: Dr. Alfred Lee LOOMIS, (1887-1975), NYC, N.Y.. Rootsweb, July 1, 2002.) Julia Stimson and the Drs. Loomis were ancestors of John F. Kerry's campaign advisor, David Hoadley Thorne, S&B 1966, and his ex-wife, who was Julia Stimson Thorne. Alfred Lee Loomis, Yale 1909, was their son. (The Ancestors of Julia Stimson Thorne. William Addams Reitwiesner Genealogical Services.)

Dr. William Mecklenburg Polk was a gynecological surgeon at several New York City hospitals until 1898, when he was chosen as Dean of Faculty at the Cornell University's new medical school. (Dr. Wm. M. Polk, Gynecologist, Dies. New York Times, June 25, 1918.) His younger son, John Metcalfe Polk (1875-1904, Yale 1896) got his MD at Cornell in 1899. He went to Europe to study "the blood changes produced by infectious diseases, particularly influenza," and he died of acute pneumonia that developed a few hours after doing an autopsy. (Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Academical Year ending in June 1904, p. 110.) His older son, Frank L. Polk, Scroll & Key 1894, was a partner of the law firm of Davis, Polk, Lansing, Wardwell & Reed, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Institute of Human Relations at Yale.

Dr. Lewis Atterbury Stimson (1844-1918, Yale 1863) was the son of Henry Clark Stimson, a banker in New York City. He served in the Civil War and was engaged in the banking and brokerage business with his father until 1871. In that year, because of his wife's health, he went to Europe and studied medicine. He returned and graduated from Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1874. In 1883, he was appointed professor of physiology at New York University, and held the chair of surgery at Cornell University Medical College since 1898. Rev. Henry A. Stimson (S&B 1865) was his brother, Henry L. Stimson (S&B 1888) was his son, and Alfred L. Loomis (Yale 1909) was his nephew. (Lewis Atterbury Stimson, B.A. 1863, Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of Graduates of the Undergraduate Schools Deceased During the Year 1917-18, pages 61-63.) His brother Henry was a clerk at Morton, Grinnell & Co. before entering Yale. He was a director of the Chicago Theological Seminary 1874-79. Rev. Henry A. Stimson's daughter was Major Julia Catherine Stimson, Army Nurse Corps. (Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of Graduates of the Undergraduate Schools Deceased during the Year 1936-1937, pp. 6-8.)

Dr. William Gilman Thompson (1856-1927, Ph.B. 1877) was the son of Rev. Joseph Parrish Thompson, S&B 1838, and a nephew of Daniel Coit Gilman, S&B 1852. He got his MD at Columbia and studied in Berlin and London. He was a professor at Woman's Medical College 1887-1895, and at New York University Medical College from 1887 to 1898, and professor of medicine at Cornell from 1898 until retiring in 1915. In 1924, he became chairman of the Industrial Hygiene Division of the New York State Labor Department. He was a consulting physician to Standard Oil Company of New Jersey since 1920. He married a sister of John Norton Pomeroy, S&B 1887. (Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of Yale Graduates 1927-1928, pp. 213-214; Dr. W.G. Thompson Dies Suddenly. New York Times, Oct. 28, 1927.) Thompson was a member of the Industrial Hygiene group of the Life Extension Institute in 1916. Pomeroy was a professor of law at the University of Illinois - Urbana since 1910. In 1918, he "engaged in the preparation of a digest of the world's extant commercial treaties for the use of the Peace Conference." (John N. Pomeroy 2d Dies. New York Times, June 2, 1924; Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of Yale Graduates 1923-1924, pp. 106-107.)

Dr. George Woolsey (1861-1950), Yale 1881, was the son of Theodore Dwight Woolsey, Yale 1820, who was the president of Yale University from 1846 to 1871. He had at least 29 Yale relatives, dating back to 1709. Theodore S. Woolsey (S&B 1872) was his half-brother, Edgar L. Heermance (S&B 1858) was a brother-in-law, and Charles F. Johnson (S&B 1855) was a cousin. His daughter married John C. Kittle, S&B 1904. He received his MD at Columbia in 1885, then studied in Berlin, Vienna, Cottingen and Paris. He was a surgeon in New York City 1888-1935, professor of anatomy and clinical surgery at New York University College of Medicine 1890-98, then professor of clinical surgery and anatomy at Cornell Medical College 1898-1908, clinical surgery 1908-26, and professor emeritus until his death. (Bulletin of Yale University, Obituary Record of Graduates of the Undergraduate Schools Deceased during the Year 1950-1951, p. 7.)

Dr. John Rogers (1866-1939), Skull & Bones 1887, got his M.D. at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, in 1891, and practiced in New York City from 1893 to 1939. He became affiliated with Cornell in 1898, and was professor of clinical surgery 1909-1926. He "supported a research laboratory at Cornell University Medical College since 1920 and there directed various lines of research." Derby Rogers (S&B 1893) and David F. Rogers (S&B 1898) were his brothers. He married Elizabeth Selden White, the daughter of Charles Atwood White, S&B 1854. His daughter Elizabeth married Francis Harding Horan, later the general counsel of Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company. (Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Year 1939-1940, pp.40-41.) Henry L. Stimson (S&B 1888) was a brother-in-law.

Harry Payne Bingham, Yale 1910

Harry Payne Bingham was the son of Charles W. Bingham of Cleveland, and Mary Payne, Oliver H. Payne's younger sister. Oliver Hazard Payne bequeathed at least $2,000,000 and the Esopus estate to Harry P. Bingham. He was a director of the Northern Finance Corporation and the First National Bank of New York. He married the daughter of Thomas Burks Yuille. Her sister was Mrs. Wolcott Blair. (Melissa Yuille Married At Home to Harry Payne Bingham, Banker. New York Times, Apr. 25, 1937.) Yuille was the late president of a predecessor of Philip Morris, the Tobacco Products Corporation. Their daughter, Burks Bingham, married Anthony A. Lapham, general counsel of the C.I.A., the son of Lewis A. Lapham, S&B 1931.

The Board of Directors of the New York Heart Association, Inc. in 1964-65 included Mrs. Harry Payne Bingham, Howard S. Cullman, Lewis A. Lapham, Ed Sullivan, and Lowell P. Weicker. (50th Anniversary New York Heart Association, Annual Report 1965.)

Harry Payne Whitney, S&B 1894

He studied at Columbia Law School 1895-97, and was in the law office of Elihu Root 1897-98; "subsequently became identified with Guggenheim Exploration Company;" president of New York Electric Vehicle Company 1899-1900, president of the Whitney Realty Company since 1910; director of the Guaranty Trust, Montana Power Company, Sinclair Consolidated Oil Corporation, Metals Exploration Company, and Wright-Martin Aircraft Company. He married Cornelius Vanderbilt's daughter, Gertrude, the sister of William H. Vanderbilt '93, Cornelius Vanderbilt '95, and Alfred G. Vanderbilt (S&B 1899). (Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Year 1930-1931, pp. 125-126.)

Between 1913 and 1918, Bolshevik John Reed's primary financial support was from the journal "Metropolitan," which was owned by Harry Payne Whitney. Whitney was also a director of the Guaranty Trust, which funded the Bolshevik Revolution, from ~1899 to 1930. (John Reed: Establishment Revolutionary. In: Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution, by Antony C. Sutton.)

Whitney's daughter, Flora, married G. Macculloch Miller, the grandson of the founder of the forerunner of the United Hospital Fund, George Macculloch Miller of the Central Trust. (Mrs. Tower to Wed in Cairo Today. New York Times, Feb. 24, 1927.)

William Payne Whitney, S&B 1898

He was a director and member of the executive board of the Great Northern Paper Company 1903-1927; director and vice president of Northern Finance Corporation 1911-1927; and Whitney Realty Company 1910-1927; member of the board of governors of the Society of New York Hospitals since 1912 and vice president since 1917. (Obituary Record of Yale Graduates 1926-1927, pp. 172-173.)

Payne Whitney inherited $4,000,000 from his uncle, Oliver H. Payne, who also gave him million-dollar Fifth Avenue mansion when he married Helen Hay, his Yale rommate's sister, and the daughter of former Secretary of State and Ambassador to Britain John Hay. He was a director of the Great Northern Paper Company, the First National Bank of New York, a trustee of the United States Trust Company, and vice president of the Whitney Realty Co. He was a brother-in-law of Sen. James W. Wadsworth Jr., S&B 1898. (Payne Whitney Dies Suddenly At Home. New York Times, May 26, 1927; Payne Whitney, Financier, Dies. (AP) Los Angeles Times, May 26, 1927.) His estate included 44,863 shares of the Northern Trust Company, a holding company established by his uncle; and shares of Standard Oil Co. of New York; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.; Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co.; Nash Motors; Guaranty Trust Co.; Corn Products Refining Co.; and Vanadium Corporation. He left $21,691,593 to the New York Hospital, and $3,286,605 each to Cornell and Yale Universities, and smaller amounts to Nassau Hospital and Groton School. A Bones classmate, Eugene Hale Jr. [S&B 1898], received $500,000. Lewis Cass Ledyard, the U.S. Trust Co., and Lewis Cass Ledyard Jr. were the executors. (Estate of Whitney Totals $239,301,017. Washington Post, Sep. 1, 1931; Whitney Will Gives Millions to Charity. New York Times, Jun. 7, 1927.) He contributed $1,000,000 to the Yale Endowment Fund shortly before his death. (Payne Whitney Gave Million to Yale Fund. New York Times, Jun. 2, 1927.)

Payne Whitney and his brother each owned about half of the Northern Finance Corporation. Its holdings included about $34 million in Standard of New Jersey, $18 million in Standard of California, $16 million in Standard of Indiana, and $14 million in Standard of New York, and lesser amounts in various other oil companies; $23 million in British American Tobacco, $8 million in Imperial Tobacco, over $13 million in Liggett & Myers Tobacco, $14 million in R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, and lesser amounts in American Cigar, American Snuff, Cuban Tobacco, George W. Helme Co., International Cigar Machine, Johnston Tin Foil, P. Lorillard Company, MacAndrews & Forbes, Porto-Rican American Tobacco, and U.S. Tobacco; $8 million in American Telephone & Telegraph; $7 million in the Bankers Trust Co., $4 million in the Chase National Bank, $2 million in the Guaranty Trust, $1 million in U.S. Trust Co., and lesser amounts in the Central Union Trust and National Bank of Commerce. Whitney had bank deposits of over $600,000 each in the First National Bank and the United States Trust Company, and deposits with the brokerage firms of W.H. Goadby & Co., Harriman & Co., C.D. Barney & Co., and Reynolds, Fish & Company. (Payne Whitney Left $178,893,655 Estate, Record For America. New York Times, Nov. 23, 1928.)

W.H. Goadby & Co.

"Although the firm of Goadby & Co. had not been established or at any rate did not bear that name until April, 1876, Mr. Goadby had been a member of the Stock Exchange for several years previously. His membership dates from Dec. 31, 1870.... The partners who now make up the firm are Courtlandt D. Barnes, Harry G. Miles and Charles Morgan, the last a board member.... His extensive holdings of securities gave Mr. Goadby a place on the boards of several important corporations, his directorships including the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Company, the Twin City Rapid Transit Company, the Lanston Monoype Machine Company and the Sheffield Company of Sheffield, Ala." He was the son of Thomas Goadby, an Englishman who came to the U.S. and made a fortune in real estate. (William H. Goadby, Broker, Dies At 76. New York Times, Jul. 5, 1925.) His nephew, W. Goadby Loew, married George F. Baker's daughter, Florence. In 1941, W.H. Goadby & Co. was merged with H.N. Whitney & Sons, and became H.N. Whitney, Goadby & Co., of 49 Wall Street. Junius A. Richards, director of Tobacco and Allied Stocks, was a member of the combined firm. (2 Firms To Be Merged. New York Times, Mar. 21, 1941.) "The firm of Henry N. Whitney & Sons is an old one. Originally it was Drew & Robinson and had charge of the Vanderbilt interests. Later it became Chase & Atkins. Henry N. Whitney then was the cashier. About 1878 he was taken into partnership, and the firm became Kissam, Whitney & Co. Mr. Kissam was a brother-in-law of William H. Vanderbilt and the firm continued in charge of the Vanderbilt interests after the new partnership of Henry N. Whitney & Sons was established in 1901." (Broker Whitney A Suicide. New York Times, Jan. 9, 1908.)

Reynolds, Fish & Company

Reynolds, Fish & Co. was formed in 1921 (Display Ad 134. New York Times, Jan. 4, 1921 p. 27.) Special partner Theodore F. Reynolds was the son-in-law of Orville Taylor Waring, a director of Standard Oil of New Jersey. (Oil Man's Widow Cut Off. New York Times, May 30, 1923; New York Times, Mar. 13, 1925 p. 19.) General partner Stanley W. Burke was married to one of Waring's granddaughters. He was a 1917 graduate of Yale and president of the Dramatic Society, whose members included E.R.N. Harriman and Robert A. Lovett, S&B 1917. Their performances were well-attended by Bonesmen. (Engaged. New York Times, Jan. 1, 1917; Stanley Burke, 79, Marine In 2 Wars. New York Times, May 6, 1974.) Burke, Lovett, the Harriman brothers, and their classmate Knight Woolley, S&B 1917, were all active in the Boys Club of New York, whose president was Charles H. Sabin of the Guaranty Trust. The organization had been founded by E.H. Harriman in 1876. (Boys Club Work to Be Extended. New York Times, Jun. 12, 1927; Boys Club Holds a Reception. New York Times, Nov. 20, 1927.) General Partner Francis C. Bishop was the son of Heber R. Bishop, whose heirs shared $500,000 annual income from 1598 shares of Standard Oil. His sister, Elizabeth, was the wife of James Low Harriman. (Will of Heber R. Bishop. New York Times, Dec. 18, 1902; Bishop Heirs to Get $500,000 As Income. New York Times, Feb. 10, 1915.) In 1942-43, Reynolds, Fish & Co. merged with Pyne, Kendall & Hollister, and Robert E. Strawbridge Jr., who joined the board of managers of Memorial Hospital, was admitted as a limited partner. (Exchange Announces Changes In Firms. New York Times, Apr. 25, 1942; Changes in Firms. New York Times, Mar. 1, 1943.) The firm was located at 120 Broadway. (Display Ad 24. New York Times, Mar. 1, 1943 p. 27.) Limited partner George E. Coe Jr. was a member of Scroll & Keys 1917, and Roland Harriman and Stanley W. Burke had been ushers at his wedding. Coe was a nephew of Mrs. Robert W. de Forest, and his wife was a niece of Walter and Oliver Gould Jennings, S&B 1880 and 1887. (Miss James Weds Henry E. Coe Jr. New York Times, Apr. 20, 1923.) The firm was renamed Mallory, Adee & Co. in 1944, with Burke & Coe as limited partners. (Display Ad 25. New York Times, Feb. 1, 1944 p. 26.) Henry H. Wehrhane, whose father was a partner of Hallgarten & Co., joined that firm in 1892, and was a partner from 1904-1919. (Henry Wehrhane, Banker, Dies At 80. New York Times, Feb. 16, 1950.) Hallgarten & Co. was the largest single stockholder of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in 1917. The Northern Finance Corp., Oliver H. Payne, Dorothy Whitney Straight, Gertrude Whitney, and Harry P. Whitney were also large stockholders.

John Hay Whitney

Payne Whitney's son, John Hay (Jock) Whitney, graduated from Yale in 1926. He was a Fellow of the Yale Corporation from 1955 to 1973, and Senior Fellow until 1976. (John Hay Whitney, by Judith Ann Schiff. Yale Alumni Magazine, April 2002.) He was a key financial backer of President Eisenhower; the last publisher of the New York Herald Tribune; a founder of Pioneer Pictures, which introduced Technicolor; and Chairman of the Board of Selznick International Pictures. He married Elizabeth (Betsey) Cushing, one of the daughters of neurosurgeon Harvey Williams Cushing, Scroll & Key 1891. Cushing was a member of the Advisory Committee of Yale's Institute of Human Relations in 1929. Betsey's sister, Barbara (Babe) Cushing, married William S. Paley, the former chairman of CBS. Her death was exploited for propaganda by the American Cancer Society in 1983 Senate hearings. Jock Whitney's longtime business crony, Benno Schmidt, was also a longtime health policy activist, and served on the board of directors of CBS, Freeport Sulphur, and other Whitney interests.

"In 1929, Whitney was hired as a clerk at the princely sum of $65 per month at the firm of Lee, Higginson, where he met Langbourne Meade Williams Jr., the son of the founder of Freeport Texas Co., the sulphur mining company that was responsible for one-third of domestic output. Williams enlisted Jock's aid in ousting the chairman of his family's company, and the two and some of their friends began buying shares of the company. Jock soon was Freeport's biggest shareholder, and with his support, Williams sacked the chairman and his senior management team in 1930. Three years later, Williams became Freeport's president and Whitney was appointed Chairman of the Board, at the age of 29. Jock remained involved with Freeport for the rest of his business days. (John Hay Whitney. Wikipedia.) Freeport Sulphur is now Freeport McMoRan.

Whitney was a member of the Federal Broadcasting Corporation, which acquired the commercial and program presentation rights of New York City radio station WMCA. The group included John T. Adams; Howard G. Cushing; Major Talbot O. Freeman; Walter S. Mack Jr., later the president of Pepsi-Cola; A. Newbold Morris; Paul Nitze; James K. Norris, Allan A. Ryan Jr.; Clendenin J. Ryan Jr.; Robert Thayer; and Bethuel M. Webster, later counsel to Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company; with former N.Y. Governor Alfred E. Smith as chairman. (Smith Heads Board of New WMCA Group. New York Times, Aug. 28, 1933.) During World War II, Whitney was temporarily detailed to William J. Donovan in the OSS. (Freeport Sulphur's Early Years with John Hay Whitney. In: David Atlee Phillips, Clay Shaw, and Freeport Sulphur, by Lisa Pease. Probe magazine 1996 March-April;3(3).)

In 1946, he founded J.H. Whitney & Company, with Richard G. Croft, Samuel C. Park Jr., Malcolm Smith and Webster B. Todd. (New Firm to Back Small Businesses. New York Times, Feb. 15, 1946). Todd, who was former EPA Adminstrator Christine Todd Whitman's father, left shortly later to become a director of the Equity Corp. (Chosen as a Director of Equity Corporation. New York Times, Mar. 12, 1947.) J.H. Whitney & Co. partner James F. Brownlee was a trustee of the Ford Foundation from 1953 to 1960.

John Hay Whitney was President of the Society of New York Hospital when William Gage Brady Jr., board chairman of the National City Bank, was elected to its board of governors. (National City's Chairman Joins N.Y. Hospital Board. New York Times, Jun. 21, 1950.)

"Perhaps the most widely circulated of the C.I.A.-owned news services was Forum World Features, founded in 1958 as a Delaware corporation, Forum Information Service, with offices in London. Forum was ostensibly owned during much of its life by John Hay Whitney, the publisher of The New York Herald Tribune, which ceased publication in 1966. According to several C.I.A. sources, Mr. Whitney was 'witting' of the agency's true role." (Worldwide Propaganda Network Built By the C.I.A. By John M. Crewdson and Joseph B. Treaster. New York Times, Dec. 26, 1977.) "In 1966, the New York paper closed, but the Whitney family kept the Paris paper going through partnerships. In December 1966, The Washington Post became a joint owner. The New York Times became a joint owner of the Herald in May 1967; the newspaper became known as the International Herald Tribune.... In 1991, The Washington Post and The New York Times became sole and equal shareholders of the newspaper. As of 2007, the IHT is completely owned by The New York Times Company, after that firm purchased the 50% stake owned by the Washington Post Company on December 30, 2002." (International Herald Tribune. Wikipedia, accessed 3-16-08.)

John Hay Whitney and his sister, Mrs. Charles S. Payson, each contributed $5 million to the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center's Fund for Medical Progress. Both were on the board of governors of the Society of the New York Hospital. Whitney was a member since 1927 and president from 1949 to 1953, Payson was a board member since 1940. Whitney was in the hospital in October for "influenza 'complicated by a mild cardiac condition.'" The fund was at $22 million of a target $54,700,000. Other donors were the Vincent Astor Foundation, the Samuel J and Evelyn L. Wood Foundation, Mrs. Samuel J. Wood, the Booth-Ferris Foundation, Stanton Griffis and the Griffis Foundation, Inc., and the U.S. Public Health Service. The treasurer of the fund was George F. Baker Jr. (Whitney and Sister Give Hospital 10 Million. New York Times, Dec. 17, 1961.)

Philip Morris has been supporting the Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris since 1967, when PM established a special purchase fund for the Museum. It is located in the plaza of PM's international headquarters across from Grand Central Station. (Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris.)

In 1968, John Hay Whitney and Walter N. Thayer were leading fund raisers for Nelson Rockefeller's presidential campaign. William Glanton Irwin of Communis Engine Company was head of the Committee, and James A. Henderson of Cummins was an assistant campaign manager. (Review of Presidential Candidates Organizations. Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 1968.)

In 1971, Yale appointed its first women members of the Yale Corporation. They were University of Chicago history professor Hanna Holborn Gray and civil rights lawyer Marian Wright Edelman, who received a law degree from Yale in 1963. William S. Beinecke, chairmain of Sperry & Hutchinson, and Lance M. Liebman, associate professor of law at Harvard, were also chosen. Among the continuing trustees were John Hay Whitney, William McC. Martin, Cyrus R. Vance, the Right Rev. Paul Moore Jr., Federal Judge Leon Higginbotham Jr. and William W. Scranton. The Yale Corporation consisted of ten successor trustees, six elected alumni fellows, the president of the University, and the Connecticut Governor and Lieutenant Governor. (Yale Names Two Women, One A Black Lawyer, to Board of Trustees. New York Times, Jun. 20, 1971.)

William H. Jackson

J.H. Whitney partner William H. Jackson was a director of the Bankers Trust Co. between 1947 and 1950.

John Hay Whitney's Crony, Benno C. Schmidt

Schmidt was a partner of J.H. Whitney & Co. since 1946. Around 1960, he joined the board of managers of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; he was one of Mary W. Lasker's allies in the National Cancer Act of 1971, and was a member of the President's Cancer Panel of the National Cancer Institute. Meanwhile, his business cronies were on the board of directors of Philip Morris.

John Hay Whitney's Crony, Walter N. Thayer (3d)

"Thayer was for more than 30 years a close associate of the late John Hay Whitney, on whose behalf he arranged the acquisition of the financially troubled Herald Tribune in 1968. Through the Whitney Communications Corporation, of which he became president, Mr. Thayer also guided efforts to acquire Parade, the profitable Sunday newspaper supplement, and other properties that would help absorb some of The Herald Tribune's losses over the years to come." It closed in 1966, but the International Herald Tribune continued. Walter Nelson Thayer 3d was the son of the superintendant of the New York state reformatory at Dannemora. He graduated from Colgate University in 1931, and worked as a parole officer before receiving a law degree from Yale in 1935. During World War II, he was on the legal staff of the Lend-Lease Administration, the War Shipping Administration, and the Foreign Economic Administration. In 1945, he was a partner of the New York law firm Thayer & Gilbert. He joined J.H. Whitney & Co. in 1955. The firm invested $1.2 million in the Herald Tribune, and eventually took control of it from the Ogden Mills Reid family. Thayer was a senior partner of Whitcom Investment Company, the parent company of Whitney Communications. (Walter Thayer, 78, Herald Tribune President, Dies. By Albin Krebs. New York Times, Mar. 5, 1989.)

Thayer was elected a director of the Bankers Trust Company in 1958. He was also a director of the National Dairy Products Corporation, Gulf Television Corporation, KOTV, Inc., Caribbean Refining Co., Corinthian Broadcasting Corp. and the Indiana Broadcasting Co. (Board Member Chosen By Bankers Trust Co. New York Times, May 28, 1958.) Corinthian was owned by J.H. Whitney & Co. and included four television and two radio stations in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, Ind., Galveston and Houston, Texas, and Tulsa, Okla., all affiliated with CBS. (C.B.S. Affiliates Under New Set-Up. By Richard F. Shepard.New York Times, Apr. 27, 1957.) He was a director of Bankers Trust until at least 1976. His fellow directors during this period included Howard S. Cullman and Joseph F. Cullman of Philip Morris. (Display Ad, New York Times, Jan. 4, 1951; Display Ad, New York Times, Oct. 19, 1976.)

Thayer was elected a trustee of Colgate University in 1964. (Colgate Elects 2 Trustees. New York Times, Jan. 19, 1964.) Thayer was a member of the Harriman mission to England from 1942-45. He was elected a life trustee of Columbia University in 1965. Maurice T. Moore was chairman. (Columbia's Trustees Elect Thayer. New York Times, May 19, 1965.) Thayer was a member of the three-man executive board of the Granary Fund of Boston, a charitable trust established in 1958 by Thayer and Whitney, who was Ambassador to England from 1957 to 1961. It received money from the Central Intelligence Agency in 1964 and 1965 "to channel money from front foundations to various organizations here and abroad." In 1964, the front foundations included the John G. Thornton Trust ($300,000) and the James Carlisle Trust ($150,000), with $500 from miscellaneous sources. In 1965, the Granary Fund received $325,000 from the Mount Pleasant Fund, $200,000 from the James Carlisle Trust, $125,000 from the Victoria Strauss Trust and $1,000 in miscellaneous contributions. "In 1965 the Granary Fund made contributions of $150,000 to the International Development Foundation, $100,000 to the Whitney Charitable Trust, $75,000 to Friends of the Middle East, Inc., $68,000 to Operations and Policy Research, $50,000 to the Pan American Foundation, $38,000 to the Retail Clerks International Association, $35,250 to the Institut d'Histoire Sociale, $3,500 to Robert E. Witherspoon and $1,500 to M.J. Desai." Fellow trustees of the Granary Fund were George H. Kidder, and John A. McCone was its director. Samuel Culver Park Jr. was a trustee of the charitable trust. (Whitney Trust Got Aid. By E.W. Kenworthy. New York Times, Feb. 25, 1967.) Thayer was an active Republican fund-raiser since the 1950s and an intimate of President Eisenhower. "He was among the first to begin assembling financial backing for Mr. [John V.] Lindsay's mayoral race and remained close to him throughout the campaign." (Brownell Heads Kitchen Cabinet Advising Lindsay on Chief Issues. By Terence Smith. New York Times, Feb. 17, 1966.)

Thayer was a member of Republicans for Progress, a splinter group of "progressive" Republicans that was headed by Charles Phelps Taft, Skull & Bones 1918. (G.O.P. 'Unity' War Escalates Again. New York Times, Jun. 23, 1965). In 1971, Walter N. Thayer was a member of the Ash Council, which created the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Management and Budget. John C. Topping Jr., who wrote a major report for the group, later lobbied for the EPA to proclaim that secondhand smoke causes cancer in non-smokers - along with A. Judson Wells, the secret author of the main chapters whose role was concealed behind illegal pass-through contracts.

Frank L. Taylor

Frank L. Taylor, Executive Vice President and Director of the International Herald Tribune, was a director-at-large of the American Cancer Society. He was a past president and campaign chairman of the ACS-Milwaukee Division. He was publisher of the Milwaukee Sentinel 1943-54, and a vice president and director of the Hearst Corporation, 1946-55. Past Publisher, Spokane Press, Portland News Telegram, and Seattle Star. (Know Your Board of Directors, American Cancer Society, 1956 and 1957.) Wisconsin Governor Walter J. Kohler was Chairman of the Board of the American Cancer Society during this period.

"Also in 1957, the Board of Directors of the Society established an Ad Hoc Committee on Smoking and Health. Its members were: Dr. Warren H. Cole, of the University of Illinois College of Medicine; Dr. John R. Heller, then Director of the National Cancer Institute; Dr. Ochsner; Dr. Ernest L. Stebbins, of Johns Hopkins University; Dr. Howard C. Taylor, Jr., Professor and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons; Rutherford L. Ellis, Chairman of the Board of Lipscomb-Ellls Co., Atlanta, Ga.;William B. Lewis, Chairman of the Board of Kenyon & Eckhardt, Inc., New York City; Monroe J. Rathbone, President and Director of Standard Oil of New Jersey; Dr. Ira DeA. Reid, Professor of Sociology, Haverford College, and Frank L. Taylor, Executive Vice President and Director of the New York Herald Tribune. The Society reafflrmed the importance of presenting basic findings on the link between cigarettes and lung cancer to the public. The Board authorized production of suitable educational materials, including materials designed specifically for high school and college students, and authorized a one-year study of the smoking habits of teen-agers in the Portland, Oregon, school system which would involve nearly 22,000 high school students. Action followed. In December of 1957, the Society began distribution of its leaflet, 'To Smoke Or Not To Smoke.'" (The Position of the American Cancer Society Regarding Tobacco and Lung Cancer. To the City Editor [form letter]. American Cancer Society News Service, Jan. 7, 1964.)

Philip Morris and Skull & Bones

J. Taylor Foster, Skull & Bones 1908, was a director of Tobacco and Allied Stocks, PM's largest stockholder in 1953; and William Henry Donaldson, Skull & Bones Class of 1953, was on the board of directors of Philip Morris from 1979 to 1999. Retired PM executive John M. Richman, a director from 1988-94, was also a director of R.R. Donnelley & Sons, Chicago, whose co-founder's sons, Thomas Elliott Donnelley and Reuben H. Donnelly, joined Skull & Bones in 1889. R.R. Donnelley began printing Encyclopedia Britannica in 1910, TIME magazine in the 1920s, and Life in 1936, while R.H. Donnelley had a monopoly of AT&T's Yellow Pages. TIME and Life were founded by Henry R. Luce, Skull & Bones 1920. (Buy: R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company. By Gregory Linus Weiss, Investment Quality Trends, May 26, 2000.)

cast 05-11-08