Richard Mortimer

Mortimer was born in New York City on April 24, 1852. He was the son of William Yates Mortimer (1824–1891) of New York and Anna Elizabeth (née Thorpe) Mortimer (1829–1905) of Albany. His siblings Minnie and Wilfred Mortimer died young.{{cite news |title=WILLIAM YATES MORTIMER |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1891/12/05/103354529.pdf |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=December 5, 1891}} His younger brother, Stanley Yates Mortimer{{cite news |title=STANLEY MORTIMER DEAD AT AGE OF 79; Former Polo Player, Huntsman and Artist Belonged to an Old New York Family. STUDIED PAINTING IN PARIS He Was a Founder of the Meadow Brook Club and Was Noted as a Skillful and Fearless Rider. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/03/25/100702261.pdf |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=March 25, 1932 |language=en}} was married to Elizabeth Livingston Hall,{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Elizabeth's sister, Anna Rebecca Hall (mother of First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt), was married to Elliott Bulloch Roosevelt, the son of Theodore Roosevelt Sr. and brother of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.{{cite book |last1=Reynolds |first1=Cuyler |title=Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation |date=1914 |publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/genealogicalfami00reyn/page/1332 1332] |url=https://archive.org/details/genealogicalfami00reyn |access-date=14 June 2018 |language=en}}}} the second daughter of Valentine Hall Jr.{{cite web |title=Mrs. Stanley Mortimer (1863-1944) |url=https://www.nyhistory.org/exhibit/mrs-stanley-mortimer-1863-1944 |website=www.nyhistory.org |publisher=New-York Historical Society |access-date=14 June 2018 |language=en}} a banker and merchant. His paternal grandparents were Richard Mortimer and Harriett Cordelia Thompson;{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Henry |title=America's Successful Men of Affairs: The City of New York |date=1895 |publisher=New York Tribune |page=[https://archive.org/details/ldpd_6221441_000/page/n515 456] |url=https://archive.org/details/ldpd_6221441_000 |access-date=18 October 2018 |language=en}} Richard Mortimer was born in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire and emigrated to America in 1816, eventually becoming a wealthy merchant.{{cite news |title=RICHARD MORTIMER |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1882/05/31/102778665.pdf |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=May 31, 1882}} William Yates Mortimer was named after his uncle William Yates, a woollen manufacturer. Richard's maternal grandfather was Aaron Thorpe of Albany, New York.

File:(King1893NYC) pg848 MORTIMER BUILDING. WALL STREET, SOUTH SIDE, CORNER OF NEW STREET.jpg, built by Mortimer's father in 1885.]]

Richard received an education in Germany before returning to New York in 1872 at the age of 20 to assist in management of the Mortimer family estate, which included the Mortimer Building on Broadway. In 1882 Richard inherited a large fortune upon the death of his grandfather Richard Mortimer.{{cite news |title=RICHARD MORTIMER'S MILLIONS. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1882/06/06/96862637.pdf |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=June 6, 1882}} An additional Mortimer Building was commissioned in 1884 by Richard's father W.Y. Mortimer and completed in 1885,{{cite news |title=MORTIMER FAMILY REALTY. How Wise Investments a Century Ago Made Decedents Wealthy. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/11/24/97046477.pdf |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=November 24, 1918}} which building was acquired by the New York Stock Exchange for $745,000 in December 1918.{{cite news |title=Exchange Buys Mortimer Building. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/12/12/97050475.pdf |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=December 12, 1918}} The Mortimer family's real estate holdings were extensive, and rivalled in size the estates owned by such prominent New York families as the Astors and Goelets.

File:Mortemar, Tuxedo Park, 1905.jpg, c. 1905.]]

In 1892, Mortimer and his wife Eleanor were included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.{{cite news|last1=McAllister|first1=Ward|title=THE ONLY FOUR HUNDRED {{!}} WARD M'ALLISTER GIVES OUT THE OFFICIAL LIST. HERE ARE THE NAMES, DON'T YOU KNOW, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR GREAT LEADER, YOU UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/02/16/108210917.pdf|access-date=26 March 2017|work=The New York Times|date=16 February 1892|language=en}}{{cite book|last1=Patterson|first1=Jerry E.|title=The First Four Hundred: Mrs. Astor's New York in the Gilded Age|date=2000|publisher=Random House|isbn=9780847822089|page=218|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLwMAAAAYAAJ|access-date=2 March 2018|language=en}} Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.{{cite book|last1=Keister|first1=Lisa A.|title=Getting Rich: America's New Rich and How They Got That Way|date=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521536677|page=36|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5dAtJf1hmAUC&pg=PA36|access-date=20 October 2017|language=en}}{{cite book|last1=Birmingham|first1=Stephen|title=Life at the Dakota: New York's Most Unusual Address|date=2015|publisher=Open Road Media|isbn=9781504026314|page=18|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtPSCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT18|access-date=2 March 2018|language=en}} Mortimer, a member of the Tuxedo Club, Metropolitan Club, Knickerbocker Club, Union Club, City Club, Racquet Club, Coaching Club, Riding Club and Westminster Kennel Club, wore a cravat that covered his throat with "a diamond stickpin so big that his friends called him "Flashlight Dick."{{cite book |last1=Pell |first1=Eve |title=We Used to Own the Bronx: Memoirs of a Former Debutante |date=2009 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=9781438425146 |pages=17–18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZFmdQQ6B1ZsC&pg=PA17 |access-date=18 October 2018 |language=en}} Along with the Lorillards, the Mortimers were one of the founding families of Tuxedo Park, New York.{{cite book|last1=Conant|first1=Jennet|title=Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II|date=2013|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781476767291|page=59|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QQTZAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA59|access-date=12 October 2017|language=en}}{{cite book |title=Social Register, New York |date=1920 |publisher=Social Register Association |page=498 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ek5IAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA498 |access-date=18 October 2018 |language=en}} Their home in Tuxedo was known as Mortemar, a "turreted four-story mansion." Mortemar was designed by Richard Howland Hunt of Hunt & Hunt. Construction began in the 1890s and continued for 10 years.{{cite news |last1=L. |first1=Zach |title='Mortemar' |url=http://www.beyondthegildedage.com/2012/05/mortemar.html |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=www.beyondthegildedage.com |date=May 12, 2012}}

Richard Mortimer married Eleanor Jay Chapman (1864–1929) on April 26, 1886, who was the daughter of Henry Grafton Chapman Jr. (son of abolitionist Maria Weston Chapman), president of the New York Stock Exchange.{{cite news|date=17 March 1883|title=Obituary -- Henry G. Chapman|work=The New York Times|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B0CE3DA1631E433A25754C1A9659C94629FD7CF&legacy=true|access-date=12 October 2017}} and Eleanor (née Jay) Chapman (daughter of John Jay, the U.S. Minister to Austria-Hungary under Grant). She was a descendant of John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States.{{cite news |title=MRS. RICHARD MORTIMER.; Former Eleanor Jay Chapman Dies After a Long Illness. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/12/10/94219894.pdf |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=December 10, 1929 |language=en}} His uncle was John Jay Chapman (husband to Elizabeth Astor Winthrop Chanler),{{cite book|last1=Howe|first1=Mark Antony De Wolfe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U0UOAAAAMAAJ|title=John Jay Chapman and His Letters ...|date=1937|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|pages=334, 485|language=en|access-date=18 October 2018}}{{cite news|date=5 November 1933|title=JOHN J. CHAPMAN, AUTHOR, POET, DIES; New Yorker Succumbs to Long Illness at Age of 71 in Poughkeepsie Hospital {{!}} ABANDONED LAW TO WRITE {{!}} Was Central Figure in Several Controversies Funeral in This City Next Wednesday.|work=The New York Times|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A0DE7DB1731E333A25756C0A9679D946294D6CF&legacy=true|access-date=12 October 2017}} Together, they had a townhouse at 382 Fifth Avenue and had the following children.

• Mary Eleanor Mortimer (1887–1958), who married Maxime Hubert Furlaud (1877–1973).
• Richard Mortimer Jr. (1888–1918),{{cite news |title=RICHARD MORTIMER KILLED. Family at Tuxedo Gets News of Aviator's Death in France. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/05/28/118141671.pdf |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=May 28, 1918}} a Harvard graduate who died in a plane crash in France.{{cite book |last1=Howe |first1=Mark Antony De Wolfe |title=Memoirs of the Harvard Dead in the War Against Germany |date=1922 |publisher=Harvard University Press |pages=76–81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nG4vAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA76 |access-date=18 October 2018 |language=en}}
• Stanley Grafton Mortimer (1889–1947),{{cite news|last1=Staff|title=S.G. MORTIMER DIES|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1947/04/06/96582843.html?pageNumber=60|access-date=12 October 2017|website=The New York Times|date=April 6, 1947}} a stockbroker who married Katherine Hunt Tilford (1890–1970), daughter of Henry M. Tilford, in 1911.{{cite news |title=Miss Katharine Tilford to Wed |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/09/27/105093115.pdf |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=September 27, 1910}}{{cite news|title=Deaths BLAINE, KATHARINE MORTIMER|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/17/classified/paid-notice-deaths-blaine-katharine-morti-mer.html|access-date=12 October 2017|website=The New York Times|date=April 17, 2003}}
• Wilfreda Mortimer (1892–1968),{{cite news |title=MRS. C. F. FROTHINGHAM |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28642556/mrs_c_f_frothingham/ |access-date=20 February 2019 |work=Daily News |date=3 August 1968 |pages=35}} who married John Morris Livingston Rutherfurd (1888–1971),{{cite news |title=John Rutherfurd, 80, Ex-Racing Figure |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28642484/john_rutherfurd_80_exracing_figure/ |access-date=20 February 2019 |work=The Palm Beach Post |date=1 April 1971 |pages=48}} a descendant of U.S. Senator John Rutherfurd and signer of the Declaration of Independence Lewis Morris, in 1911.{{cite news |title=Rutherford-Mortimer Wedding In June |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/01/19/106724770.pdf |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=January 19, 1911}}{{cite news |title=MISS MORTIMER A TUXEDO BRIDE {{!}} Daughter of Richard Mortimer Married to John M. Rutherford at "Mortemar" |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/05/21/104825610.pdf |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=May 21, 1911}} They divorced in Paris in 1923 and she married Charles Frederick Frothingham Jr. (1888–1963), a son of Charles F. Frothingham, in November 1924.{{cite news |title=MRS. RUTHERFURD GETS LICENSE TO MARRY {{!}} Former Wife of John M. L. Rutherfurd to Wed Charles F. Frothingham on Nov. 5. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1924/10/31/101619332.pdf |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=October 31, 1924 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=MRS. RUTHERFURD WED IN CITY CHAPEL; Former Wife of John M. L. Rutherfurd Marries Charles F. Frothingham, Broker. CITY CLERK OFFICIATES Relatives of Union Club Member and His Bride Witness the Ceremony--Other Nuptials. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1924/11/06/104056756.pdf |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=November 6, 1924 |language=en}}

Mortimer died on March 15, 1918, in Palm Beach, Florida, where he had gone for his health.{{cite news |title=RICHARD MORTIMER |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/16/98260980.pdf |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=March 16, 1918}} He was buried at St. Mary's-in-Tuxedo Church Cemetery in Tuxedo Park, New York. His entire estate was left to his widow, Eleanor,{{cite news |title=Richard Mortimer's Will Filed. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/05/01/102698224.pdf |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=May 1, 1918}} who died at her home, 555 Park Avenue, after several months illness, in December 1929.

Through his daughter Mary, he was the grandfather of Richard Mortimer Furlaud (1923–2018),{{cite news |last1=Hagerty |first1=James R. |title=Squibb CEO Furlaud Was Spurred by a Depression-Era Drop in Status |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/squibb-ceo-furlaud-was-spurred-by-a-depression-era-drop-in-status-1537540202 |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=Wall Street Journal |date=21 September 2018}} the president and C.E.O. of Squibb Beech-Nut (which became Bristol-Myers Squibb);{{cite news |title=Richard M. Furlaud, 95 |url=https://easthamptonstar.com/Obituaries/2018913/Richard-M-Furlaud-95 |access-date=18 October 2018 |work=The East Hampton Star |date=September 13, 2018 |language=en}} and Maxime Jay Furlaud (1925–1999).

Through his son Stanley, he was the grandfather of Stanley G. Mortimer Jr. (1913–1999),{{cite news|title=Paid Notice: Deaths MORTIMER, STANLEY G.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/13/classified/paid-notice-deaths-mortimer-stanley-g.html|access-date=12 October 2017|work=The New York Times|date=13 August 1999}} who was married to Babe Paley,{{cite news |title=Barbara Cushing Paley Dies at 63; Style Pace-Setter in Three Decades; Symbol of Taste |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/07/07/archives/barbara-cushing-paley-dies-at-63-style-pacesetter-in-three-decades.html |quote=Barbara Cushing Paley, the wife of William S. Paley, the chairman of the board of the Columbia Broadcasting System, died of cancer at their apartment in New York City yesterday after a long illness. She was 63 years old. |work=The New York Times |date=July 7, 1978 |access-date=12 October 2017| first=Enid | last=Nemy}} and then Kathleen Harriman;{{cite news|last1=Nemy|first1=Enid|title=Stanley G. Mortimer Jr., 86, Sportsman and Ad Executive|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/14/nyregion/stanley-g-mortimer-jr-86-sportsman-and-ad-executive.html|access-date=12 October 2017|work=The New York Times|date=14 August 1999}}{{cite news|last1=Fox|first1=Margalit|title=Kathleen Mortimer, Rich and Adventurous, Dies at 93|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/us/20mortimer.html|access-date=12 October 2017|website=The New York Times|date=February 19, 2011}} Henry Tilford Mortimer (1916–1993),{{cite news|last1=Staff|title=Henry T. Mortimer; Stockbroker, 77|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/08/obituaries/henry-t-mortimer-stockbroker-77.html|access-date=12 October 2017|website=The New York Times|date=September 8, 1993}} Richard Mortimer, Eve Mortimer (1918–2007),{{cite news|title=Eve Mortimer Ledyard of West Grove|url=http://www.dailylocal.com/article/DL/20071004/TMP01/310049987|access-date=12 October 2017|date=10 October 2007|language=en}} who married Clarence Pell, Jr.,{{cite news|last1=Morgan|first1=Spencer|title=The Mortimer Family|url=https://observer.com/2006/12/the-mortimer-family/|access-date=12 October 2017|work=Observer|date=18 December 2006}} and later Lewis Cass Ledyard III;{{cite news|last1=Wallace|first1=Andrew|title=Lewis C. Ledyard 3d, A Lawyer Who Turned To Art, Horse Breeding|url=http://articles.philly.com/1990-12-05/news/25921847_1_yearlings-farm-lawyer|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316224606/http://articles.philly.com/1990-12-05/news/25921847_1_yearlings-farm-lawyer|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 16, 2016|access-date=12 October 2017|website=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=December 5, 1990}} Katharine Mortimer (1923–2003), who married three times (including to Francis Xavier Shields, their grandchild was actress Brooke Shields);{{cite news|title=Deaths BLAINE, KATHARINE MORTIMER|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/17/classified/paid-notice-deaths-blaine-katharine-morti-mer.html|access-date=15 March 2016|website=The New York Times|date=12 October 2017}} and John Jay Mortimer (1935–2013), a prominent financier.{{cite news|last1=Theodoracopulos|first1=Taki|title=Taki: RIP John Jay, my brave friend who refused to take part in vulture capitalism|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2013/11/john-jay-mortimer-was-the-epitome-of-a-gent/|access-date=12 October 2017|work=The Spectator|date=9 November 2013}}

Through his daughter Wilfreda, he was the grandfather of John Mortimer Rutherfurd (1913–1966); Jay Rutherfurd (1916–2005);{{cite news |title=Diplomat, journalist Jay Rutherfurd dies. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22771867/jay_rutherfurd_obit/ |access-date=20 February 2019 |work=Palm Beach Daily News |date=16 December 2005 |pages=2}} and Nathaniel Frothingham (1927–2001).{{cite news |title=N. Frothingham, ad executive; at 73 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28642296/nathaniel_frothingham_obituary/ |access-date=20 February 2019 |work=The Boston Globe |date=21 March 2001 |pages=27}}

;Notes

{{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

;Sources

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{find a Grave|191701824}}
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=JLRCAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA461 Architectural Record, Volume 18], featuring "Mortemar" (1905)

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mortimer, Richard}}

Category:1852 births

Category:1918 deaths

Category:American people of English descent

Category:American businesspeople in real estate

Category:American real estate investors

Category:Businesspeople from New York City

Category:Mortimer family (New York)

Category:People from Manhattan

Category:People from Tuxedo, New York