Thomas J. Pancoast
{{notability|1=Biographies|date=April 2025}}
{{Short description|American businessman and politician (1865-1941)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image = Thomas J. Pancoast Portrait.jpg
| name = Thomas Jessup Pancoast
| caption = Portrait {{circa|1900}}
| birth_date = 13 July 1865
| birth_place = Moorestown, New Jersey, US
| death_date = 16 September 1941 (aged 76)
| death_place = Moorestown, New Jersey, US
| order = 2nd
| resting_place = Woodlawn Park, Miami
| office = Mayor of Miami Beach, Florida
| term_start = 1918
| term_end = 1920
| predecessor = J.N. Lummus
| successor = Thomas E James
| spouse = Katharine Rogers Collins
| children = 6, including Russell
}}
Thomas Jessup "T.J." Pancoast was a developer, businessman and second mayor of Miami Beach, Florida, from 1918 to 1920.
Life
Born in Moorestown, he was a member of the firm of Collins and Pancoast of Merchantville, builders' and farmers' supplies, from 1888 to 1912. He also served as president of the First National Bank of Merchantville from 1911 to 1912.{{cite news |title=TJ Pancoast dies; Miami developer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/courier-post-obituary-for-thomas-jessup/57929382/ |accessdate=June 10, 2024 |work=Camden Courier Post |date=September 17, 1941}}
He was neighbor to John Collins in New Jersey, and became his son-in-law after marrying Collins' daughter, Katharine Rogers Collins in 1889.{{citation needed|date= June 2024}}
The Pancoasts moved to Florida 1912.
The Pancoasts had six children. Two of them, Josiah Arthur Pancoast and Russell Pancoast featured prominently in the development of Miami Beach. Russell T. Pancoast, was architect for several buildings on Miami Beach and throughout Florida. Arthur Pancoast built the Pancoast Hotel and was famously a cattle breeder.{{cite news |title=Pancoast Hotel Opening |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-miami-news-24-01-3-n-pancoast-hotel/37416047/ |access-date=10 June 2024 |work=Miami News |date=Jan 3, 1924}}
The Pancoasts built the Miami Beach Casino during 1912 and 1913 on the ocean at 23rd Street.{{cite journal |last1=Carson |first1=Ruby Leach |title=Forty Years of Miami Beach |journal=Tequesta |date=1955 |volume=XV |issue=XV |page=3 |url=https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/UF/00/10/14/46/00015/00055_1.pdf |access-date=10 June 2024}}
T. J. Pancoast was elected 2nd Mayor of Miami Beach in 1918, succeeding his business partner J.N. Lummus.
He was president of the Miami Beach Bay Shore Co., the First National Bank of Miami Beach and the Pancoast Hotel Co.{{citation needed|date= June 2024}}
Pancoast was elected as the first president of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce in 1921, he remained at its head for 20 years.{{citation needed|date= June 2024}}
He died in 1941.
Civic activities and affiliations
Pancoast was president of the Miami Beach Museum and Zoological Garden. He was president of the Miami Beach Golf Club and an active Rotary Club member.
References
Notes
{{reflist}}
Sources
- {{cite book |last1=Moore |first1=Daniel Decatur |title=Men of the South: A Work for the Newspaper Reference Library |date=1922 |publisher=Southern Biographical Association |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NfA1AQAAMAAJ&q=men+of+the+south+orr|accessdate=13 June 2024}}
External links
- [http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/FL/ofc/miamibeach.html Political Graveyard: Mayors of Miami Beach, Florida]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pancoast, Thomas J}}
Category:Mayors of Miami Beach, Florida
Category:Mayors of places in Florida