Elbridge T. Gerry Sr.

Gerry was born in New York City on November 22, 1908.[1] His parents were Robert Livingston Gerry Sr. (1877–1957) and Cornelia Averell Harriman (1884-1966). His brothers were Robert Livingston Gerry Jr., Henry Averell Gerry, and Edward Harriman Gerry.[1] His uncles included New York Governor W. Averell Harriman and E. Roland Harriman.[1] His great-great-grandfather was Elbridge Gerry, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation.[1]

Gerry was named after his paternal grandfather, Elbridge Thomas Gerry (1837–1927), who was usually called "Commodore" due to the office he held with the New York Yacht Club, who co-founded the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, sometimes called the Gerry Society.[1]

He attended St. Bernard's School, the Aiken Preparatory School in Aiken, South Carolina, St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and Harvard College, where he graduated in 1931.[1] At Harvard, he was the Captain of the polo team.[1]

He started his career in banking at the Hanover Bank in New York. In 1936, he joined Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.[3] During the Second World War, he served as an intelligence officer for Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and rose to the rank of Major.[1] In 1956, he became a general partner of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.,[1] and by 1968, he was on the Steering Committee.[3] From 1957 to 1986, he was a director of the Union Pacific Railroad and head of its board's Executive Committee from 1969 to 1986.[1]

He was a founding member and President of the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in Goshen, New York, where he was inducted in 1975.[1][4] He was a partner in the Arden Homestead Stable with his uncle E. Roland Harriman. The stable produced two winners of the Hambletonian Stakes: Titan Hanover in 1945 and Flirth in 1973.[1][5]

He won the U.S. Open Polo Championship and the Monty Waterbury Cup, three times each.[2] He played with Thomas Hitchcock Sr. and Stewart Iglehart.[1] He served as Chairman of the United States Polo Association (USPA) from 1940 to 1946.[1][2][6] He was inducted into the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame on March 15, 1991.[2][7]

He served as a vice president and Trustee at The Boys' Club of New York.[8] He also served as Trustee and President of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, founded by his grandfather, Elbridge Thomas Gerry, in 1875.[1]

In 1932,[9] Gerry was married to Marjorie Y. Kane (1909–1999),[10] the daughter of John P. Kane (d. 1949).[11] She attended Miss Chapin's School and graduated from the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Connecticut, in 1927.[12][13] The wedding took place at the Episcopal Church of St. John of Lattingtown. After the ceremony, the reception took place at High Lindens, the bride's parents house.[14] He had two sons and a daughter:[15]

• Elbridge Thomas Gerry Jr. (b. 1933)[16]
• Peter Goelet Gerry, Jr., who is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School. He was the co-founder and managing partner of Sycamore Ventures, a private equity and venture capital investment firm.[17]
• Marjorie Gerry, who married G. Neal Ryland, the son of William Bradford Ryland, in 1979.[18] Ryland was the chief financial officer for the asset management unit of Natixis.[19][20]

Gerry died at his home in Delhi, New York on February 26, 1999.[1] His wife died shortly after he did.[15]

His granddaughter, Averell Tritton Ryland, a client services manager for The Trium Group, married Frederick Pennington McFerran, the founder and the chief executive of Knack who is the son of Alexander Y. McFerran, in 2012.[20]

• Elbridge T. Gerry Sr. at Find a Grave