Nationality American Name George Forman | Spouse(s) Martha Forman Resting place New York | |
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Employer Eastern Oil Co.Oil City Trust Co.The Fidelity Trust & Guaranty Co. Children Howard Arter FormanGeorge Alfred FormanMary (Forman) GoodyearAnson Goodyear (son-in-law) Died October 22, 1922, Buffalo, New York, United States | ||
George V. Forman (December 3, 1841 – October 22, 1922) was a founder of VanderGrift, Forman & Company, which became part of the Standard Oil Company. Forman was also a prominent Buffalo banker in the late 1800s and early 1900s, founding the "The Fidelity Trust and Guaranty Company" which later merged with the Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company to become M&T Bank.
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Early life
George Van Syckel Forman was born in 1841 to Hamilton Forman (1808-1879) and Mary Van Syckel (1822-1913). He was born near Milford, New Jersey in 1841. After graduating from Princeton University in 1861, he practiced law in Trenton, New Jersey. Later he moved to Oil City, Pennsylvania, where with Capt. J. J. Vandergrift, he established the "Oil City Trust Co.," of which Forman was president for a time.
Business career
While a resident of Olean, New York, and a member of the "Exchange National Bank of Olean," Forman organized the "Eastern Oil Co.". incorporated in West Virginia. He then came to Buffalo, New York to be president of the company.
In May 1893, Forman, along with John J. Albright, John Satterfield, and Franklin D. Locke, founded The Fidelity Trust and Guaranty Company of Buffalo, New York, of which he became president. In 1909, E. B. Green was commissioned to build the "Fidelity Trust Building", today known as "Swan Tower" and owned by Ellicott Development Co., located at 284 Main Street in Buffalo.
Forman, a very punctual man, according to Anson Goodyear, "every morning left his house at a certain hour and met George Williams at his house just above North Street, to walk to the Fidelity Building together. Mr. Forman boasted a very prominent corporation and leaned backward to achieve his balance. Mr. Williams was emaciated and bent forward to achieve his. It was a procession on which people checked their watches."
In December 1925, a few years after his death in 1922, the Fidelity Trust Company, with $35 million in assets, merged with Manufacturers and Traders Bank, founded in 1856, with $64 million in assets, under the new name Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company. The $100 million company was headed by Fidelity's President, 36-year-old Lewis G. Harriman. Harriman and a group of investors including A. H. Schoellkopf, from the founding family of the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, and James Forrestal, who would become the first United States Secretary of Defense, owned enough shares to control both Fidelity and M&T.
Personal life
Forman was married to Martha Carter (1849–1931), also from New Jersey, with whom he had three children.
Forman died on October 22, 1922 and is buried at Mount View Cemetery in Olean, New York
Residence
In 1893, Forman built the beaux arts classical mansion, now known as the "Forman-Cabana House," for his family at 824 Delaware Avenue in Buffalo, New York in the present day Delaware Avenue Historic District. The home was designed by Green & Wicks with E. B. Green serving as the principal designer. The home is fronted by prominent columns and features yellow Roman brick, the round arched front entrance has flanking paired fluted Ionic pilasters. Today the residence is home to Child and Family Services and the Stanley G. Falk School, which is located in the carriage house.
In 1915, Forman's son Howard built an 11,229-square-foot mansion at 1260 Delaware Avenue that was designed by E.B. Green. Today, the residence is home to a law firm, Dolci & Panepinto, run by New York State Senator Marc Panepinto. His daughter-in-law's home, 77 Oakland Place, is currently the residence of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Buffalo.
Descendents
Forman's grandson, David Forman (died 1987), was one of the founders of the Buffalo Sabres and was inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame in 1986. His granddaughter, Georgia Elliott Forman (1898–1994), married John L. Collyer (1893-1979), an executive with the Goodrich Corporation and the former chairman of The Business Council. Another grandson, Lawrence Carter Forman (1905–1988) married Millicent Ruth Bickford (1911–1986), the daughter of Gen. Harold Childe Bickford (1876–1956) and Mary Davidson (b. 1881). Millicent was the niece of the Most Rev. Randall Thomas Davidson (1848–1930), the Archbishop of Canterbury. Lawrence's first marriage, to Jane Weed, ended in divorce in 1937.
Forman's granddaughter, Lucile Forman (1915–1998), first married Morton Palmer. They divorced and in 1971 she married Prince Kyril Scherbatow (1903–1993). Prince Scherbatow was the son of Prince Paul Scherbatow of the Rurik dynasty, a colonel and aide de camp to Grand Duke Nicholas (1856–1929) of Russia, commander of the Russian Army on the Western and Turkish fronts in World War I, and Princess Anna Bariatinsky (1879–1942), a daughter of General Vladimir Bariatinsky (1843–1914), lady-in-waiting to Empress Alexandra (1872–1918) of Russia.
Forman's great-granddaughter, Mary "Molly" Forman Goodyear (b. 1935), married A. R. Gurney (b. 1930), a prominent playwright. Another great-granddaughter, Anne Goodyear, married William H. Hudnut III (b. 1932), a former member of the United States House of Representatives.