Pierre Jay
BornMay 4, 1870
Warwick, New York, U.S.
DiedNovember 24, 1949(1949-11-24) (aged 79)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma materGroton School
Yale University
OccupationChair of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Spouse
Louisa Shaw Barlow
​
(m. 1897)​
Parent(s)Peter Augustus Jay
Julia Post Jay
RelativesMary Rutherfurd Jay (sister)
John Clarkson Jay (grandfather)

Pierre Jay (May 4, 1870 – November 24, 1949)[1] was the first chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Early life

Jay was born on May 4, 1870, in Warwick, New York.[1] He was the son of Rev. Peter Augustus Jay (1841–1875), a protestant Episcopal clergyman, and Julia (née Post) Jay.[2] Jay grew up in Rye, New York, at the Jay Estate ancestral home of his great-great grandfather, American Founding Father, John Jay. Among his siblings was Mary Rutherfurd Jay, one of America's earliest landscape architects.[3][4][5][6]

His maternal grandparents were Dr. Alfred Charles Post and Harriet (née Beers) Post and his paternal grandparents were John Clarkson Jay and Laura (née Prime) Jay (herself the daughter of prominent banker Nathaniel Prime of Prime, Ward & King).[7]

Jay attended the Groton School, graduating in 1888 before attending Yale University, where he graduated in 1892, and was a member of Skull and Bones, one of the best known of the secret societies based at Yale University. He received an honorary A.M. from Yale in 1917.[1]

Career

After Yale, he was associated with Post and Flagg, bankers in New York and served as vice president of the Old Colony Trust Company in Boston, from 1903 to 1906.[1]

From 1906 to 1909, he was Bank Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts where, in 1908, he, along with Bostonian business man and philanthropist Edward Filene, helped organize public hearings on creating credit union legislation in Massachusetts, leading to the passage of the Massachusetts Credit Union Act in 1909. This legislation was the first to enable the formation of credit unions in the United States. Jay also became the first-ever chairman of the New York Federal Reserve in 1913 after its formation until January 1, 1927, when he was sent to Berlin to be the American member of the transfer committee under the Dawes Plan.[1]

Jay was also one of the founders of Fiduciary Trust Company International, now a subsidiary of Franklin Templeton, serving as board chairman from 1930 to 1945, and honorary chairman in 1945.[1]

Personal life

In 1897, Jay was married to Louisa Shaw Barlow (d. 1965),[8] the daughter of Maj. Gen. Francis Channing Barlow and Ellen (née Shaw) Barlow, sister of Col. Robert Gould Shaw. Her father served as New York Secretary of State and the State Attorney General. Together, they were the parents of:

Jay died at his home, 133 East 64th Street in New York City on November 24, 1949.[14][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "PIERRE JAY DEAD; A RETIRED BANKER; Honorary Chairman of Board of Fiduciary Trust Aided Dawes Plan Enforcement" (PDF). The New York Times. 25 November 1949. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  2. ^ Burke, Arthur Meredyth (1908). The Prominent Families of the United States of America. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 84. ISBN 9780806313085. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  3. ^ "Mary Rutherfurd Jay – Garden Architect" Exhibit Catalog, Jay Heritage Center, 2015
  4. ^ "Jay Heritage Center".
  5. ^ Clary, Suzanne (October 6, 2014). "From a Peppercorn to a Path Through History". Upper East Side Magazine. No. 53. Weston Magazine Publishers. Retrieved May 14, 2017 – via issuu.
  6. ^ "New York: Jay Heritage Center (Local Legacies: Celebrating Community Roots)". Library of Congress. 2000.
  7. ^ "Obituary. | John Clarkson Jay". The New York Times. 17 November 1891. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  8. ^ a b "Mrs. Pierre Jay, 92, Widow of a Banker" (PDF). The New York Times. 11 September 1965. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  9. ^ "Ellen Garrison, 96; Acted in Film 'Zelig'". The New York Times. 6 June 1995. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  10. ^ Daniels, Lee A. (3 October 1991). "Lloyd K. Garrison, Lawyer, Dies; Leader in Social Causes Was 92". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  11. ^ "Guide to the Alexander Duer Harvey Collection of Martin Van Buren Correspondence, 1814-1866 1590". libraries.psu.edu. Penn State University. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  12. ^ "MISS JAY BETROTHED TO IMRE DE VEGH; Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Pierre Jay to Marry Son of Hungarian Statesman.SHE IS KIN OF JOHN JAYBridegroom-Elect Is a Graduate of University of Budapest--Wedding to Take Place Soon" (PDF). The New York Times. 17 April 1931. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  13. ^ "LUIZA JAY BRIDE OF IMRE DE VEGH; Judge Nott Performs Ceremony at Home of Bride's Parents, Mr. and Mrs. Pierre Jay. NO BRIDAL ATTENDANTS Bridegroom-Elect's Father Is a Member of Upper Chamber of Hungarian Parliament" (PDF). The New York Times. 9 May 1931. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  14. ^ "Obituary Record of Graduates of the Undergraduate Schools Deceased During the Year 1949 - 1950" (PDF). Yale University Press.

External links

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