J. Stewart Baker

John Stewart Baker (August 6, 1893 – September 5, 1966)[1] was an American banker who served as the first president of the Chase Manhattan Bank.

J. Stewart Baker
President of Chase Manhattan Bank
In office
March 31, 1955 – December 31, 1957
Preceded byInaugural holder
Succeeded byGeorge Champion
Personal details
Born
John Stewart Baker

(1893-08-06)August 6, 1893
Lawrence, New York
DiedSeptember 5, 1966(1966-09-05) (aged 73)
Morristown, New Jersey
Spouse
Marianne Lathrop Foote
​
​
(m. 1915)​
RelationsStephen Baker (grandfather)
William Farquhar Payson (uncle)
Children4
Parent(s)Stephen Baker
Mary Dabney Payson Baker
Alma materPrinceton University

Early life

Baker was born on August 6, 1893, on Long Island, in Lawrence, New York. He was the son of Stephen Baker (1859–1946) and Mary Dabney (née Payson) Baker (1865–1948), who married in 1890.[2] His father served as president and chairman of the board of the Bank of the Manhattan Company, the earliest predecessor of Chase Bank, and was an associate of John D. Rockefeller Jr.[3]

His paternal grandparents were Anna Mary (née Greene) Baker and Stephen Baker, a Republican U.S. Representative from New York during the Civil War who made a fortune as an importer of woollen goods and was a son of Stephen Baker, a merchant who was one of the original stockholders in the Manhattan Company, founded by Aaron Burr in 1799.[2] His maternal grandparents were Francis Payson and Mary (née Dabney) Payson. His uncle was noted author and publisher William Farquhar Payson.[4]

Baker graduated from Princeton University in 1915. After leaving Princeton, he joined the Bankers Trust Company as a bank messenger before being assigned to work in the trust department.[5] At the outbreak of World War I, he joined the U.S. Navy as an ensign. He was discharged in January 1919.[6]

Career

After the war, he joined the Bank of the Manhattan Company, where his father was president, becoming an assistant cashier in the Union Square office of the bank in 1919 before being elected vice president the following year. In 1922, he was elected a director of the Bank and moved to the main office at 40 Wall Street, serving in the Trust department.[7]

In 1927, after thirty-four years as president, his father turned over the presidency and considerable stock ownership to the younger Baker, who had just turned thirty-four.[8] Within a year of assuming the presidency, Baker acquired the Flushing National Bank, the Bayside National Bank, the Queens-Bellaire Bank, the First National Bank of Whitestone,[9][10] the Bronx Borough Bank,[11][12] and the First National Bank of Brooklyn.[13] The acquisitions led to the bank having sixty-one offices throughout New York City.[14]

In December 1928, Baker guided the 129-year-old Bank of the Manhattan Company to a joint affiliation with the International Acceptance Bank, Inc., which had been organized in 1921 by Paul Warburg.[15] Each institution retained its corporate identity, but the Bank of the Manhattan Company shareholders owned the stock of the International Acceptance Bank.[15][lower-alpha 1] In 1932, he was chosen as chairman of the board and served in that role until March 31, 1955, when the Bank of the Manhattan Company merged with the Chase National Bank to form the second-largest commercial banking institution in the country. Baker became president and chairman of the executive committee of the merged institution, which started out with deposits in excess of $6.8 billion. He retired on December 31, 1957, but continued as a director of Chase Manhattan until August 11, 1965.[7][17]

In 1953, he was elected president of the St. Luke's Hospital board of trustees.[18]

Personal life

In 1915, Baker was married to Marianne Lathrop Foote (1894–1992), a daughter of Robert Dumont Foote and Marie Gilmour (née Hopkins) Foote.[19] In 1933, they leased a large duplex apartment at 770 Park Avenue, the Rosario Candela-designed luxury apartment building.[20] Together, they were the parents of:

  • John Stewart Baker Jr. (d. 2003),[21] who became a senior vice president of the Chase Manhattan Bank, president of the Alpha Portland Cement Co. in 1964 and president of the Garden State Bank.[22]
  • Barbara Dumont Baker (1916–2019), who married Richard Englis Baiter, an executive with Lever Brothers,[23] in 1936.[24] After his death, she married Frederic Welsh and Gordon MacPherson.[25]
  • Priscilla F. Baker (1921–2010),[26] who married Serge Jerome Hill, a son of Lucian Hill, in 1942.[27][28]
  • Stephen Baker (1924–1950),[29] who worked with the Bank of New York and the Fifth Avenue Bank; was engaged to Mary Watts Belcher at the time of his death.[30]

After a short illness, Baker died at the Morristown Memorial Hospital in New Jersey on September 5, 1966.[1]

References
Notes
  1. During the 1928 affiliation announcement, The New York Times noted that Baker's great-grandfather was one of the original stockholders of the Manhattan Company in 1799; similarly, the Warburg family banking firm of M. M. Warburg & Co. (the most closely affiliated to International Acceptance), had been founded by Paul Warburg's great-grandfather in Hamburg in 1798, a year before the Manhattan Company.[16]
Sources
  1. "J. STEWART BAKER, BANKER, IS DEAD; Chase Manhattan's First Head Retired in 1957". The New York Times. 7 September 1966. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  2. "STEPHEN BAKER, 87, NOTED BANKER,DIES; Bank of the Manhattan Co. Head Many YearsuBecame . Its President at Age of 34". The New York Times. 1 January 1947. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  3. Who's Who in the East. Larkin, Roosevelt & Larkin. 1942. p. 190. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  4. "W.F. PAYSON DEAD; AUTHOR, PUBLISHER; Ex-Managing Editor of Vogue and Founder of Firm of Own Name Succumbs at 63 WAS REPORTER IN YOUTH Once Had Served as Editor of The Field--His 'Debonnaire' Was Seen on Stage". The New York Times. 16 April 1939. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  5. "STEPHEN BAKER'S SON SUCCEEDS HIM AT BANK; Veteran President of Manhattan Company Becomes Chairman of the Board". The New York Times. 14 December 1927. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  6. "J. STEWART BAKER, BANKER, IS DEAD; Chase Manhattan's First Head Retired in 1957". The New York Times. 7 September 1966. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  7. "J. STEWART BAKER, BANKER, IS DEAD; Chase Manhattan's First Head Retired in 1957". The New York Times. 7 September 1966. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  8. "STEPHEN BAKER'S SON SUCCEEDS HIM AT BANK; Veteran President of Manhattan Company Becomes Chairman of the Board". The New York Times. 14 December 1927. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  9. "FOUR BANKS VOTE MERGER.; Queens Institutions Ratify Union With Manhattan Company". The New York Times. 26 October 1928. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  10. "ARRANGES TO BUY 4 BANKS IN QUEENS; Bank of Manhattan Company to Abolish Two and Operate Two as Branches. ADDS $10,000,000 TO FUNDS National Institutions in Flushing, Bayside, Whitestone and QueensBellaire Involved". The New York Times. 9 June 1928. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  11. "SALE OF BRONX BANK RUMORED IN WALL ST.; Bank of Manhattan Company Is Reported to Have Acquired Borough Institution". The New York Times. 10 June 1926. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  12. "TWO BANKS IN BRONX; National and Borough Concerns Controlled by Bank of the Manhattan Company". The New York Times. 12 February 1928. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  13. "BANK OF MANHATTAN IN BROOKLYN MERGER; Plans to Absorb First National in Extending Operations in That Borough. WILL EXCHANGE STOCK Deal Will Add $25,000,000 to Old Wall St. Institution's Resources of $365,190,675. NO CHANGE IN PERSONNEL W.S. Irish, Head of Organization to Be Acquired, Will Be Executive Vice President". The New York Times. 8 October 1928. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  14. "BANK OF MANHATTAN INCREASES CAPITAL; Stockholders Approve Addition to Acquire Stock of International Acceptance Bank.NEW SECURITIES COMPANYJ.P. Warburg to Head $5,000,000Organisation to Be Owned Entirely by the Bank". The New York Times. 7 March 1929. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  15. "BANK OF MANHATTAN IN $500,000,000 DEAL; 129-Year-Old Institution Will Join With the International Acceptance by Stock Trade. GETS WIDE FOREIGN FIELD Houses to Be Affiliated Long Associated With the Baker and Warburg Families. Basis for Exchange of Stock. BANK OF MANHATTAN IN $500,000,000 DEAL Many Rumors of Mergers. Strong Family Traditions". The New York Times. 21 December 1928. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  16. "BANK OF MANHATTAN IN $500,000,000 DEAL; 129-Year-Old Institution Will Join With the International Acceptance by Stock Trade. GETS WIDE FOREIGN FIELD Houses to Be Affiliated Long Associated With the Baker and Warburg Families. Basis for Exchange of Stock. BANK OF MANHATTAN IN $500,000,000 DEAL Many Rumors of Mergers. Strong Family Traditions". The New York Times. 21 December 1928. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  17. Photographers, Interstate (23 November 1957). "BAKER TO RETIRE AS BANK OFFICER; Executive Committee Head in Chase Manhattan to Continue on Board". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  18. "ST. LUKE'S BOARD ELECTS; J. Stewart Baker Is President of Consolidated Hospital". The New York Times. 6 January 1953. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  19. Times, Special to The New York (20 June 1915). "JOHN S. BAKER WEDS MARIANNE L. FOOTE; Three Clergymen Officiate at Nuptials in Floral-Laden St. Peter's, Morristown, N.J. PRINCETON MEN USHERS Vested Boy Choir Sings -- Reception and Dancing at Spring Brook House, Home of Bride's Parents". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  20. "PARK AV. SUITES RENTED.; J. Stewart Baker Takes Large Duplex -- Other Apartment Leases". The New York Times. 21 June 1933. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  21. "Memorial J. Stewart Baker Jr. '40". paw.princeton.edu. Princeton Alumni Weekly. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  22. "Paid Notice: Deaths BAKER, J. STEWART JR". The New York Times. 22 February 2003. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  23. "Richard Baiter Dies at 57; Lever Brothers Executive". The New York Times. 30 November 1971. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  24. "BARBARA D. BAKER BECOMES A BRIDE; She Is Married to Richard E, Baiter in a New Jersey Church Ceremony. SISTER IS HER ATTENDANT Reception Held at Short Hills Home of ParentsEdward McPherson Best Man". The New York Times. 13 September 1936. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  25. "Barbara MacPherson 1916 - 2019 - Obituary". www.legacy.com. TC Palm. July 14, 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  26. "Paid Notice: Deaths HILL, PRISCILLA BAKER". The New York Times. September 29, 2010. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  27. TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (29 December 1941). "PRISCILLA BAKER FIANCEE; Morristown Girl to Be Bride of Serge J. Hill of Short Hills". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  28. "PRISCILLA F. BAKER MARRIED IN JERSEY; She Becomes Bride of Serge Jerome Hill in Church of the Redeemer, Morristown HER GOWN OF WHITE SATIN Mrs. Richard Baiter !s Sister's Matron of Honor -- Luoiea Hill Is the Best Man". The New York Times. 13 September 1942. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  29. "Died". The New York Times. 13 June 1950. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  30. "MARY W. BELCHER PROSPECTIVE BRIDE; Graduate of Endicott Engaged to Stephen Baker, Former Student at Columbia". The New York Times. 28 May 1950. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
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