Name August Heckscher | ||
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Born August 26, 1848 ( 1848-08-26 ) Hamburg Children Gustave M. Heckscher (1884-1967)
Antoinette Heckscher (1887-?) Parent(s) Johan Gustav Wilhelm Moritz Heckscher (1797-1865) and Marie Antoinette Brautigan Died April 26, 1941, Mountain Lake, Florida Spouse Virginia Henry Curtiss Heckscher (m. 1930) People also search for Virginia Henry Curtiss Heckscher, Howard Sloane, Edwin Burr Curtiss | ||
August Heckscher (August 26, 1848 – April 26, 1941) was a capitalist and philanthropist.
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Biography
Born in Hamburg, Germany, Heckscher immigrated to the United States in 1867. He initially worked in his cousin Richard Heckscher's coal mining operation as a laborer, studying English at night. Several years later he formed a partnership with his cousin under the name of Richard Heckscher & Company. The firm was eventually sold to the Reading Railroad. Heckscher then turned to zinc mining and organized the Zinc and Iron Company, becoming vice-president and general manager. In 1897, it was consolidated with other zinc and iron companies into the New Jersey Zinc Company with Heckscher serving as the general manager.
Heckscher eventually became a multimillionaire and a philanthropist. He started The Heckscher Foundation for Children and created playgrounds in lower Manhattan and in Central Park. The Heckscher Playground in Central Park is the park's largest playground. He created Heckscher Park in the town of Huntington and created the Heckscher Museum of Art. The State of New York purchased nearly 1,500 acres in East Islip with money donated by Heckscher to create Heckscher State Park, made famous for hosting summer concerts for 35 years of the New York Philharmonic.
He married Anna P. Atkins (1859-1924) in 1881. In 1930 he married Virginia Henry Curtiss (ca. 1885-1941) at Croton-on-Hudson. She was the widow of Edwin Burr Curtiss, of A. G. Spalding Bros. and she was 27 years younger than Heckscher. August Heckscher died on April 26, 1941 in Mountain Lake, Florida and left his widow $10,000 and all his real estate. She died on July 11, 1941. No legatee could be found that was named in her will and the probate court declared an earlier copy of the will as valid.
Legacy
Hecksher's son Gustave Maurice Heckscher became an aviation pioneer and California real estate investor in the early 1900s.
Heckscher's daughter Antoinette (1888-1965) married British aristocrat and architect Capt. Oliver Sylvain Baliol Brett, 3rd Viscount Esher, FRIBA, FRSL, MBE, GBE, son of Reginald Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher.
His grandson August Heckscher II (1913–1997), served as President John F. Kennedy's Special Consultant on the Arts, the first White House cultural adviser, 1962–63, as well New York City Mayor John Lindsay's Parks Commissioner, 1967, amongst other highlights in a wide-ranging career and life.