Harold Stirling Vanderbilt (July 6, 1884 – July 4, 1970) was a member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family who was a railroad executive, a champion yachtsman and a champion bridge player.
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Background
Born in Oakdale, New York, the third child and second son of William Kissam Vanderbilt and Alva Erskine Smith, to family and friends he was known by the nickname "Mike." He was a brother to William Kissam Vanderbilt II and Consuelo Vanderbilt. Harold was the great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the shipping and railroad tycoon who also helped found Vanderbilt University. Born to great wealth, he was raised in Vanderbilt mansions, traveled to Europe frequently, and sailed around the world on yachts owned by his father.
Professional life
Educated by tutors and at private schools, including St. Mark's School, Harold Vanderbilt attended Harvard College (AB 1907) and Harvard Law School, graduating in 1910. He then joined the New York Central Railroad, the centerpiece of his family's vast railway empire of which his father was president. On his father's passing in 1920, thirty-six-year-old Harold Vanderbilt inherited a multi-million dollar fortune that included the Idle Hour country estate at Oakdale, New York, on Long Island, plus equity in the following railway companies:
- Detroit, Toledo and Milwaukee Railroad
- Genesee Falls Railway
- Kanawha and Michigan Railway
- Kanawha and West Virginia Railroad
- New Jersey Junction Railroad
- New York Central Railroad
- New York Central and Hudson River Railroad[clarification needed]
- New York and Harlem Railroad
- Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad
Following the death of his brother William in 1944, he remained the only active representative of the Vanderbilt family in the New York Central Railroad, serving as a director and member of the executive committee until 1954.
Sailing Career and the America's Cup
As a boy, Harold Vanderbilt spent part of his summers at the Vanderbilt mansions, the Idle Hour estate in Long Island, New York on the banks of the Connetquot River, Marble House at Newport, Rhode Island, and later at Belcourt (the Newport mansion of his stepfather, Oliver Belmont). As an adult, he pursued his interest in yachting, winning six "King's Cups" and five Astor Cups at regattas between 1922 and 1938. In 1925, he built his own luxurious vacation home at Palm Beach, Florida that he called "El Solano." In addition to being his vacation home, El Solano is also notable for being purchased by former Beatle John Lennon shortly before his murder in 1980.
In 1930, Harold achieved the pinnacle of Yacht racing success by defending the America's Cup in the J-class yacht Enterprise. His victory put him on the cover of the September 15, 1930, issue of Time magazine. In 1934 Harold faced a dangerous challenger in Endeavour, as the British boat won the first two races. However, Vanderbilt came back in his yacht Rainbow to win three races in a row and defend the Cup. In 1937 Harold defended the Cup a third time in Ranger, the last of the J-class yachts to defend the Cup. Vanderbilt's wife, Gertrude "Gertie" Lewis Conaway, became the first female to compete as a full-fledged team member in an America's Cup yacht race. They were posthumously elected to the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 1993. Later in life Vanderbilt would become Commodore of the New York Yacht Club and would be intricately involved in many successful America's Cup defenses.
In the fall of 1935, Harold began a study of the yacht racing rules with three friends: Philip J. Roosevelt, President of the North American Yacht Racing Union (predecessor to US SAILING); Van Merle-Smith, President of the Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound; and Henry H. Anderson. “The four men began by attempting to take the right-of-way rules as they were and amending them. After about six weeks of intensive effort, they finally concluded that they were getting exactly nowhere. It was the basic principles, not the details, that were causing the problems. They would have to start from scratch.” (MacArthur, Robert C., Room at the Mark, Boston, 1991) In 1936, Vanderbilt, with assistance from the other three had developed an alternative set of rules, printed them, and mailed a copy to every yachtsman that Harold knew personally or by name in both the United States and England. These were virtually ignored, but a second edition in 1938 was improved as were following versions. Vanderbilt continued to work with the various committees of the North American Yacht Racing Union until finally in 1960 the International Yacht Racing Union (predecessor to the International Sailing Federation or ISAF) adopted the rules that Vanderbilt and the Americans had developed over the previous quarter century.
Vanderbilt University
Harold Vanderbilt had a keen interest in the success of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, founded in 1873 through the financial sponsorship of his great-grandfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt. A longtime member of the university's Board of Trust, he served as its president between 1955 and 1968. He helped guide the institution through a time in history when racial integration of the student body was a divisive and explosive issue. In 1962 Vanderbilt attended one of the first meetings of the Vanderbilt Sailing Club and provided funding for the club to purchase its first fleet of dinghies, Penguins. The university annually offers several scholarships named in his honor, and on the grounds in front of Buttrick Hall, a statue was erected in his honor.
Bridge
Vanderbilt was also a card game enthusiast who, in 1925, helped develop the scoring system by which the game of contract bridge supplanted auction bridge in popularity. Three years later, he heavily endowed the Vanderbilt Trophy which goes to the winners of the national team-of-four championship. In 1932, and again in 1940, he was part of a team that won his own trophy. He also penned several books on the subject of bridge, most notably "The Vanderbilt Club."
Not one to rest on his laurels, Vanderbilt also invented the first forcing club bidding system which has perennially dominated world championship play ever since. Nottingham Club, Neapolitan Club, Blue Club, Precision Club, and other strong forcing club systems are an outgrowth of the Vanderbilt Club. Polish Club, Unassuming Club and other weak club systems are an outgrowth from the Vienna System (Stern Austrian System, 1938).
In 1969, the World Bridge Federation (WBF) made Vanderbilt its first honorary member. When the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) Hall of Fame was inaugurated in 1964, Vanderbilt was one of the first three persons elected. His trophy remains one of the most prized in the game.
Honors
- WBF Honorary Member 1969
- ACBL Hall of Fame 1964
- ACBL Honorary Member of the Year 1941
- Wetzlar Trophy 1940
Wins
- North American Bridge Championships (2)
- Vanderbilt (2) 1932, 1940
Runner-ups
- North American Bridge Championships (1)
- Vanderbilt (1) 1937
Postscript
In addition to sailing, Vanderbilt was a licensed pilot, acquiring a Sikorsky S-43 "Flying Boat" in 1938.
In 1963, Harold Vanderbilt assisted the Preservation Society of Newport County in acquiring the Marble House summer estate in Newport, Rhode Island, sold by his mother more than thirty years earlier. Successful in their bid, the property was converted into a museum.
Harold Stirling Vanderbilt died in 1970. He and his wife are interred at Saint Mary's Cemetery in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, their graves marked with only a simple flat stone.
A sailing drink, Stirling Punch, was named in Vanderbilt's honor.
Harold Vanderbilt's private railroad car, New York Central 3, was recently renovated and operates luxury charter trips at the rear of regularly scheduled Amtrak and VIA Rail Canada trains.
A nephew, Barclay H. Warburton III, founded the American Sail Training Association.[1]
References
- Sailing World Hall of Fame, Sailing World Magazine. April 24, 2002. Sailing World Magazine
- Time Magazine. September 15, 1930.
External links
References
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