Forrest F. Dryden

Forrest Fairchild Dryden (December 26, 1864 – July 20, 1932) was the president of Prudential Insurance Company of America (now Prudential Financial) from 1912 until 1922. Prudential was founded by his father, John F. Dryden, who was also a United States senator, representing New Jersey.

Forrest F. Dryden
2nd President of Prudential Insurance Company
In office
1912–1922
Preceded byJohn F. Dryden
Succeeded byEdward Dickinson Duffield
Personal details
Born
Forrest Fairchild Dryden

(1864-12-26)December 26, 1864
Bedford, Ohio, U.S.
DiedJuly 20, 1932(1932-07-20) (aged 67)
Bernardsville, New Jersey, U.S.
Spouse
Grace Carlton
​
(m. 1890)​
Children3
Parent(s)John F. Dryden
Cynthia J. Fairchild Dryden
EducationNewark Academy
Phillips Academy
Signature

Early life

Dryden was born in Bedford, Ohio on December 26, 1864. He was the son of John Fairfield Dryden (1839–1911) and Cynthia Jennings (née Fairchild) Dryden (1842–1916). His father, John F. Dryden was the founder and the president of Prudential Insurance Company. His sister, Susan married Anthony R. Kuser. Their son, John Dryden Kuser, Dryden's nephew, was a state senator and Brooke Astor's first husband.

Dryden attended Newark Academy and later Phillips Academy at Andover.

Career

He started working for Prudential Insurance Company in 1888. He became superintendent of the Prudential office in Elizabeth New Jersey in 1889. He joined the board of directors and assumed the duties as assistant secretary in 1890. Later that year he was selected to be secretary of the company. During his father's service as U.S. Senator for New Jersey, Forrest Dryden acted as president of Prudential. Dryden was promoted to third vice president in 1903, second vice president in 1906 and vice president in 1911.

Upon his father's death in 1912, he succeeded him to become president of Prudential. He continued on as president of Prudential until his resignation in 1922 due to ill health, reportedly arising from his "examination before the Lockwood Committee at the hands of Samuel Untermyer."[1] He was succeeded by Prudential's general solicitor and the then acting president, Edward Dickinson Duffield,[2] who had been with the firm since 1906.[1]

Affiliations

Dryden was a member of the New Jersey National Guard Essex Troop. During his time there, he was the chief commissary on the Major General Staff. He held the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was member of the New Jersey State Rifle Association. He was a member of the Newark Board of Trade. He was also a director of many organizations, including the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey, the Union National Bank of Newark, the South Jersey Gas, Electric and Traction Company and the United States Casualty Company of New York.

Personal life

In 1890, Dryden married Grace Marion Carleton (1865–1936), daughter of Isaac N. Carleton, at her family home in Bradford, Massachusetts.[3] Together, they were the parents of three children, including:

  • John Fairfield Dryden II (1893–1947)[4]
  • Dorothy Dryden (b. 1899), who married Newcombe Chandler Baker in 1919.[5][6]
  • Elizabeth Dryden (1905–1963)

He died at his home in Bernardsville, New Jersey, on July 20, 1932, due to heart disease.[7][8]

Legacy

The Dryden family estate, known as Stronghold, was located in Bernardsville on Bernardsville Mountain. It became the home of Miss Gill's School in 1940 which later became known as Gill St. Bernard's School in 1956. It is currently owned by fashion mogul Marc Ecko.[9]

References
  1. "Dryden Out as Head of Prudential Life; Poor Health Causes Resignation of President of Insurance Company Since 1912. Lockwood Quiz is Blamed; Examination by Untermyer Aggravated Illness, Say Friends--Duffield Succeeds, Him" (PDF). The New York Times. August 15, 1922. p. B33. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
  2. The Standard. Standard Publishing. August 26, 1922. p. 331. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  3. "Current Items". The Insurance Times. English & Wilmshurst: 410. 1890. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  4. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. New England Historic Genealogical Society. 1947. p. 622. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  5. "Miss Dorothy Dryden to Wed Newcombe Chandler Baker". New-York Tribune. February 16, 1919. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  6. "Paid Notice: Deaths Sloan, Marion Baker". The New York Times. April 20, 2000. p. B11. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
  7. "Forrest F. Dryden, Financier, is Dead; Former Head of the Prudential Insurance Company, Which Was Founded by His Father. Active in Jersey Utilities Also Served on Board of Newark Public Library - Was Long Active in National Guard". The New York Times. Bernardsville, N. J. (published July 20, 1932). July 19, 1932. p. 15. Retrieved July 1, 2023. Forrest Fairchild Dryden, president of the Prudential Insurance Company of America, of Newark, N. J., from 1912 to 1922, and a figure in the investigation of insurance and banking conditions in New York by the Lockwood committee in 1921, died today of heart disease at his home here in his sixty-eighth year.
  8. "Forrest Dryden Dies. Headed Prudential Co". Reading Eagle. July 20, 1932. Retrieved April 2, 2010. Fairchild Dryden. former president of the Prudential Insurance Company, died at his home, Stronghold, Claremont Road. He was 67 years old and had been in ...
  9. Napoliello, Alex (April 6, 2015). "The history behind Marc Ecko's $18M Bernardsville estate (PHOTOS)". NJ.com. Retrieved November 27, 2021.

Further reading
  • A History of the City of Newark New Jersey Vol. III, 1913
  • Scannell's New Jersey's First Citizens 1917–1918, page 138
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