Thomas DeWitt Cuyler
Photograph of Cuyler, c. 1910
Born(1854-09-28)September 28, 1854
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DiedNovember 2, 1922(1922-11-02) (aged 68)
Alma materYale University
OccupationLawyer
Spouse
Frances Lewis
​
​
(m. 1881)​
Children4
Parent(s)Theodore Cuyler
Mary Elizabeth DeWitt

Thomas DeWitt Cuyler (September 28, 1854 – November 2, 1922) was an American lawyer who served as director of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the chairman of the Association of Railway Executives.

Early life

Cuyler was born in Philadelphia on September 28, 1854.[1] He was the son of attorney Theodore Cuyler (1819–1876) and Mary Elizabeth (née DeWitt) Cuyler (1829–1892).[2] He was named for his maternal grandfather, Rev. Thomas DeWitt Jr., who was the pastor of the Collegiate Dutch Church in New York City for forty years. His younger brother, Cornelius C. Cuyler, a Princeton graduate and banker,[3] was named for their paternal grandfather, Cornelius C. Cuyler,[4] and his sister, Eleanor DeGraff Cuyler, was named for their paternal grandmother, Eleanor (née DeGraff) Cuyler.[5]

His maternal great-grandparents were Thomas DeWitt and Elsie (née Hasbrouck) DeWitt, a member of the prominent Hasbrouck family. Thomas DeWitt Sr.'s sister, Mary, married James Clinton and had New York Governor DeWitt Clinton, making him a first cousin, twice removed of Thomas DeWitt Cuyler. His maternal aunt, Maria van Antwerp DeWitt, was married to banker and philanthropist Morris Ketchum Jesup. He was directly descended from Hendrick Cuyler, who came from Amsterdam in the Netherlands in 1664, settling in Albany, New York.[5]

After studying in the schools of Pennsylvania, Cuyler attended Yale University, from where he graduated in 1874. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1876.[1]

Career

Cuyler at the White House in Washington, D.C., 1922

Cuyler started his career as counsel for "a number of Scottish and English development companies that brought settlers to the West to open up new territories. Much of his time was spent in Texas, California, New Mexico and other States, in which roads were being built and financed, and he became acquainted with the details of both operations."[1] He later served as counsel in the reorganization of the Asphalt Company of America as "taking part in many of the most complicated and important railroad reorganization plans."[1]

In May 1889, he was elected as a director of the Pennsylvania Railroad (of which his father had been general counsel). He was also a director of several railroads in the Pennsylvania system as well as of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, the Rutland Railroad, the New York, Ontario and Western Railroad, the Maine Central Railroad, and the Long Island Railroad, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, the Equitable Life Assurance Society, the Bankers Trust Company, the Western Union Telegraph Company, the Guaranty Trust Company, the Metropolitan Trust Company, the United States Mortgage and Trust Company, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, the Commercial Trust Company, among other railroads and corporations including hotel and real estate companies.[1] Beginning on May 1, 1918, Cuyler succeeded Frank Trumbull as the chairman of the Association of Railway Executives.[6][7]

Personal life

On May 3, 1881, Cuyler married Frances Lewis (1860–1941) in Philadelphia.[1] She was a daughter of John Thompson Lewis and Maria Litchfield (née Scott) Lewis.[8] For many years, she was a member of the board of the Orphan Society of Philadelphia and served as president.[9] Together, they were the parents of four daughters:[1]

  • Mary DeWitt Cuyler (1882–1968), who was named for her paternal grandmother; she died unmarried.[10]
  • Frances Lewis Cuyler (1883–1930), who was named for her mother; she died unmarried in Trouville, France.[11]
  • Helen Scott Cuyler (1887–1978), who married Caspar Wistar Morris (1880–1961), a son of Dr. Caspar Morris, in 1910.[12]
  • Eleanor DeGraff Cuyler (1898–1976); married first Joseph Walker III (1892–1981) in 1917.[13] They divorced and she married U.S. diplomat Robert Strausz-Hupé in 1938.[14]

Cuyler died of apoplexy in his private rail car on November 2, 1922.[1][15] In his will, he left his widow $250,000 to his wife and $100,000 to each of his daughters, with the remainder of his estate going to his widow.[16] His widow died at her home on Pembroke Avenue in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in February 1941.[9]

Legacy

There is the Thomas DeWitt Cuyler professorship in Economics and a DeWitt Cuyler Athletic Field, both at Yale University.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Times, Special to The New York (3 November 1922). "T. DE WITT CUYLER DIES ON A TRAIN; Head of Railroad Executives Victim of Apoplexy in Private Car Near Philadelphia. HAD SPOKEN IN ROCHESTER Noted Lawyer Led Fight in Opposing Seniority Demands of Shopmen in Recent Strike". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  2. ↑ "Theodore Cuyler and Mary Elizabeth DeWitt". ourfamtree.org. Ray Gurganus. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  3. ↑ "MILLIONS LEFT TO ALMA MATER Princeton University to Receive Residue of Cornelius Cuyler's Estate". The Burlington Free Press. 20 August 1909. p. 2. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  4. ↑ "THOS. FORTUNE RYAN WEDS MRS. CUYLER; Recently Widowed Financier Marries the Widow of Cornelius C. Cuyler. SURPRISE TO THE RELATIVES Catholic Church Ceremony in Charlottesville, Va., with Two Witnesses. Mrs. Cuyler's Third Marriage. Thomas F. Ryan's Career. Mrs. Ryan's Benefactions. THOS. FORTUNE RYAN WEDS MRS. CUYLER". The New York Times. 30 October 1917. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 "MISS ELEANOR CUYLER DIES IN PARK A Dr. HOME; Sister of Late Thomas De Witt Cuyler Gave 33 Film Sets to Yale and Princeton". The New York Times. 11 January 1934. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  6. ↑ "CUYLER SEES HOPE FOR THE RAILROADS; Rail Executives' Chairman Believes Earnings Show Corner Has Been Turned. MORE BIG CUTS NECESSARY Probable $500,000,000 Net Returns for Year Would Cover Aggregate of Fixed Charges". The New York Times. 19 August 1921. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  7. ↑ Remedial railroad legislation. Association of Railway Executives. 1919. p. 9. My name is Thomas DeWitt Cuyler; my address, Philadelphia, Pa. I am a director in the Pennsylvania Railroad Co.
  8. ↑ "Thomas DeWitt Cuyler and Frances Lewis". ourfamtree.org. Ray Gurganus. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  9. 1 2 "MRS. THOMAS de W. CUYLER; Widow of Lawyer and Railway Executive Dies in Bryn Mawr". The New York Times. 1 March 1941. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  10. ↑ "CUYLER". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 15 July 1968. p. 18. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  11. ↑ Times, Special to The New York (8 August 1930). "Frances L. Cuyler Dies in France". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  12. ↑ "In a Social Way". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 3 March 1910. p. 8. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  13. ↑ "Engagements and Weddings". The San Francisco Examiner. 16 July 1916. p. 75. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  14. ↑ "Eleanor Strausz-Hupe, wife of NATO envoy". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 12 March 1976. p. 38. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  15. ↑ "T. Dewitt Cuyler Railway Executive Dies of Apoplexy. Widely Known Yale Alumnus and Corporation Lawyer. Passed Away in Sleeping Car Berth. Took Lage Part in Making Possible Erection of Yale Bowl". Hartford Courant. November 3, 1922. Retrieved 2011-11-05. Thomas DeWitt Cuyler, a director of the Pennsylvania railroad company and chairman of the railroad executives' association, was found dead today in a sleeping car berth on a train of the Pennsylvania, in Broad Street station. Death was due to apoplexy. ...
  16. ↑ "MOST OF CUYLER'S ESTATE TO FAMILY. Will Gives Widow Quarter Million and $100,000 Each for His Daughters. Award of $2500 to Haddonfield School is Only Public Bequest Made". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 12 November 1922. p. 4. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
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