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John Stewart Kennedy

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John Stewart Kennedy
President of theSaint Andrew's Society of the State of New York
In office
1884–1887
Preceded byWalter Watson
Succeeded byBryce Gray
In office
1879–1882
Preceded byJames Brand
Succeeded byWalter Watson
Personal details
Born(1830-01-04)January 4, 1830
Blantyre,Scotland
DiedOctober 30, 1909(1909-10-30)(aged 79)
New York City,New York,U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Spouse
Emma Baker
​
(m.1858)​
RelationsJohn Kennedy Tod(nephew)
OccupationBusinessman, financier,philanthropist
Signature

John Stewart Kennedy(January 4, 1830 – October 30, 1909) was aScottish-born American businessman, financier andphilanthropist.[1][2]He was a member of theJekyll Island Club(also known as The Millionaires' Club) onJekyll Island, Georgiaalong withJ.P. MorganandWilliam Rockefelleramong others.

Early life

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Kennedy was born atBlantyreinScotlandon January 4, 1830.[3]He was the fifth son of nine children born to John Kennedy and Isabella (néeStewart) Kennedy.[4]

While a child, his family moved toGlasgowwhere he was educated until the age of thirteen before entering a shipping office as aclerkwhile still attending morning and evening classes in an attempt to complete his education.[5]

Career

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From 1847 until 1850, he was a salesman with the Mossend Iron & Coal Company. In 1850, at age twenty, he was asked by William Bird, of the iron firm William Bird & Company ofLondon,whom Kennedy had met during Bird's visit to Glasgow, to become the firm's representative in the United States and Canada.[4]

He arrived in theNew Yorkon June 29, 1850, and spent the next two years traveling to all the major cities in Canada and the United States, includingQuebecandNew Orleans.In Autumn 1852, he returned to Glasgow to lead the branch office of the firm following the accidental drowning of his brother who had led the office. Kennedy remained in Glasgow until 1856.[4]

M.K. Jesup & Company

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Kennedy returned to New York in December 1856, and formed a partnership withMorris Ketchum Jesupknown as M.K. Jesup & Company that began with a focus on railroad iron and materials but eventually shifted to banking. From thispartnershiphe retired in 1867 and spent a year traveling abroad.[4]

During his partnership with Jesup, he spent a year inChicagowhere he established a branch of the firm under the name Jesup, Kennedy & Co.[3]

J.S. Kennedy & Company

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In 1868, he formed J.S. Kennedy & Company, a banking firm, and spent the next fifteen years devoting himself to "financial affairs of magnitude and importance."[4]He aided in the reorganization of various financial concerns, notably in 1888, when he acted withJ. S. Harrisas receiver of theNew Jersey Central Railroad,[6]and served as president of theInternational & Great Northern Railroad Companyof Texas as well as a director, and vice-president, of theIndianapolis, Cincinnati and Lafayette Railroad Companyof which he helped reorganize after its 1870 bankruptcy.[4]

In 1872, Kennedy and Sir William John Menzies ofEdinburghorganized theScottish American Investment Companyin Scotland. J.S. Kennedy & Company acted as the American agent of the Company which invested solely in bonds issued by North American railroad companies. Over time, the investment portfolio broadened out over time to include shares as well as bonds and industrial, commercial and public utility companies.[4]

In 1878 Kennedy was instructed as USA liquidator on behalf of the shareholders of theCity of Glasgow Bankto recover, primarily railroad assets, American securities of $5 million.[7]

On December 1, 1883, he retired and left the firm to his nephews,John Kennedy TodandRobert Elliot Tod,as well as other junior partners who reorganized the firm under the name J. Kennedy Tod & Company. In retirement, Kennedy broadened his role as a financier with diverse interests in leading New York financial intermediaries. Kennedy held the post of president pro tem of theBank of the Manhattan Companyfrom 1883 to 1884, when he became vice president until he resigned for reasons of health in 1888.[8]

Kennedy also served as a trustee of the Central Trust Company from 1882 until he died. Kennedy held similar positions with theNational Bank of Commercefrom 1887 to 1909, theNew York Life Insurance Companyfrom 1903 to 1906, the Title Guarantee and Trust Company from 1895 to 1909, and theUnited States Trust Companyof New York from 1896 to 1909. As a result of his varied banking activities, Kennedy became a central figure in the history of American banking and in the New York business community.[8]

Personal life

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In 1858, he was married toEmma Baker(1833–1930) inElizabeth, New Jersey,only two years after moving to New York City. Emma was the daughter of JenetteTen Eyck(née Edgar) Baker and Cornelius Baker,[4]one of the founders ofNew York University.[9]He had no children but mentored his sister Mary Kennedy's son John Kennedy Tod in the international banking and investment profession.[8]

He was a member of theCentury Association,Metropolitan Club,Downtown Club,Grolier Club,Union League Club,City Club,New York Yacht ClubandAtlantic Yacht Clubs,the Jekyl Island Club, and the New-York Historical Society.[10]

Kennedy died ofwhooping coughin 1909 at his home, 6West 57 Streetin New York.[11]Honorary pallbearers at his funeral included, Stephen Baker, president of theBank of Manhattan Company(son ofStephen Baker);Nicholas Murray Butler,president ofColumbia University;Robert W. DeForest,president of the Charity Organization Society;Cleveland H. Dodge;Howard Elliot,president of theNorthern Pacific Railway;Seth Low;J. Pierpont Morgan;George A. Morrison; former President of theSt. Andrews Society;Henry L. Smith, John A. Stewart and Frederick Sturges, Vice President of the Presbyterian Hospital. Others present in the church for his funeral wereAndrew Carnegieand his wife,Louise Whitfield Carnegie,Henry De Forestand EugeneDelano.[12]

His widow continued his philanthropy after his death and gave millions of dollars to educational and charitable causes.[13][14]She died at their summer home, Kenarden Lodge inBar Harbor, Mainein July 1930 at the age of 96.[15][16]

Philanthropy and legacy

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Kennedy was prominently connected during his life with New Yorkcharities,and hiswillgave away $30,000,000—bequestsof $2,500,000 each toColumbia University,theNew York Public Library,Metropolitan Museum of Art,Presbyterian Board of Home Missions,Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions,Presbyterian Church Erection Fund, andPresbyterian Hospital of New York City;four gifts of $1,500,000 each; three of $750,000 each; nine (to colleges) of $100,000 each; and 10 (to colleges) of $50,000 each; besides numerous smaller gifts.[6][17]

Kennedy was also the President of the Board of Trustees ofRobert College, Istanbul, Turkey,and the chairman of the Presbyterian Hospital and United Charities boards, Second Vice President and a member of the executive committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Second Vice President of theNew York Public Library,and was at one time the Vice President of theNew York Chamber of Commerce.[8]

As well as his many positions in finance Kennedy was a keen art collector. In his later life Kennedy donated many pieces to theMetropolitan Museum of Artincluding the second painting ofEmanuel Gottlieb Leutze's famousWashington Crossing the Delaware,a full-sized replica of the first, in 1897.[8]

During his life Kennedy also funded the construction ofHamilton Hall,the home of Columbia University. The building is named afterAlexander Hamilton;an American statesman and one of theFounding Fathers of the United States,who attendedKing's College,Columbia's original name.[18]

The city ofKennedy, Minnesotais named for him.[8]

References

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  1. ^"Mr. John S. Kennedy. Interesting Sketch Of The Life Of An Honored Citizen Of New-York".The New York Times.February 20, 1893.RetrievedJuly 11,2010.
  2. ^"John Stewart Kennedy".National Cyclopaedia of American Biography.1913.RetrievedJuly 12,2010.Kennedy, John Stewart, financier and philanthropist, was born at Blantyre, near Glasgow, Scotland, Jan. 4, 1830, son of John and Isabel (Stewart) Kennedy. He was educated in the public schools of Glasgow. His father's circumstances made it impossible to expect a college career, and at the age of thirteen the son began his business life as a clerk in a shipping office. Four years later he transferred his services to an iron and coal concern in Glasgow, and in 1850 a London firm in the iron and metal business made him an offer to travel for it in the United States and Canada, and he eagerly accepted the opportunity of broadening his experience and enlarging his prospects for advancement. He came to the United States in June,. 1850, and made his headquarters in New York city for two years. He went back to become the manager of the same firm's branch office in Glasgow, and he held that position from August, 1852, until December, 1856, but the institutions and the opportunities of the...
  3. ^ab"J. S. Kennedy Dead of Whooping Cough – The Financier and Philanthropist Was Ill at His City Home Only Two Weeks – Began His Career at 13 – Rose from a Scotch Mining Clerk to be a Railroad Man and Banker Worth Millions -- His Charities"(PDF).The New York Times.November 1, 1909.RetrievedAugust 23,2019.
  4. ^abcdefghMorrison, George Austin (1906).History of Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York, 1756-1906.Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York.pp. 122–130.RetrievedAugust 23,2019.
  5. ^Johnson, Rossiter; Brown, John Howard (1904).The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans...Biographical Society. pp. 232–233.RetrievedAugust 23,2019.
  6. ^ab"John Stewart Kennedy".New International Encyclopedia.
  7. ^"JS Kennedy and the city of Glasgow bank".Dissertations in economic and business history.
  8. ^abcdefEngelbourg, Saul; Bushkoff, Leonard (1996).The Man Who Found The Money: John Stewart Kennedy and the Financing of the Western Railroads.Michigan State University Press.ISBN0870134140.RetrievedAugust 7,2019.
  9. ^"Mrs. John Stewart Kennedy Gives a Philosophy Hall to New York University as a Memorial to Her Father, Cornelius Baker"(PDF).The New York Times.May 26, 1912.RetrievedAugust 23,2019.
  10. ^"Archives Directory for the History of Collecting".research.frick.org.RetrievedNovember 23,2016.
  11. ^"John Stewart Kennedy Leaves More Than $25,000,000 to Charity".The Montreal Gazette.November 6, 1909.RetrievedJuly 11,2010.
  12. ^"John S. Kennedy's Funeral – Financiers and Trustees of Institutions at Services for Philanthropist"(PDF).The New York Times.November 4, 1909.RetrievedAugust 7,2019.
  13. ^"Will of Miss Dike Rids League Group – Smith College Also to Share in Her $100,000 Estate--Carstairs Left $383,309. Hubert Gifts Distributed – 33 Institutions to Get $4,600,000 Apportioned for Inventor--Kennedy Legacies to Charity"(PDF).The New York Times.December 19, 1930.RetrievedAugust 23,2019.
  14. ^"N.Y.U. Gifts Total $621,671 Since May – Largest Is Bequest of $402,213 From the Estate of Emma Baker Kennedy"(PDF).The New York Times.November 12, 1933.RetrievedAugust 23,2019.
  15. ^"Mrs. J.S. Kennedy Dies in Bar Harbor – Widow of Philanthropist Had Herself Given Millions to Many Charities – She Was 96 Years Old – Honorary Degree Awarded Her Last Year for Her Help to New York University"(PDF).The New York Times.July 24, 1930.RetrievedAugust 23,2019.
  16. ^"Funeral Held Here for Mrs. Kennedy – Rev. Dr. M.C. Morgan Officiates at Services at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church"(PDF).The New York Times.July 29, 1930.RetrievedAugust 23,2019.
  17. ^"Mr. Kennedy Bequests".The New York Times.November 7, 1909.RetrievedJuly 11,2010.The list of bequests for public purposes made in the will of Mr. John Stewart Kennedy is an admirable picture of the nature of the man, his ideals, his interests, his mode of looking at life.
  18. ^"TRUSTEE AND NOTED BENEFACTOR DEAD John Stewart Kennedy, Donor of Hamilton Hall, Dies of Whooping-Cough DEAN VAN AM PAYS HIM TRIBUTE He Was Widely Known as a Prominent Financier, and a Generous Philanthropist".Columbia Daily Spectator.November 1, 1909.RetrievedAugust 7,2019.
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