Died 15 January 1929 | Occupation Attorney, businessman | |
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Full Name Otto Tremont Bannard Parents John Winslow Bannard, Eliza Landon Stone Alma maters | ||
Otto T. Bannard (1854-1929) was an American attorney, businessman and philanthropist.
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Early life
Otto Tremont Bannard was born on April 28, 1854 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of John Winslow Bannard (1822-1911) and his wife Eliza Landon Stone (1821-1903). John Winslow Bannard had emigrated with his parents from Oxfordshire, England and settled in Schenectady, New York. He became a successful New York wholesaler of "narrow fabrics" (i.e., lace, ribbon, and embroidery), but suffered severe financial hardship as a result of the Panic of 1857. He relocated with his family to Quincy, Illinois, on the Mississippi River, at that time a significant market town and transportation hub. John purchased a small flour mill there, but ten years later the mill burned, leaving the family nearly penniless. John's wife (Otto's mother) began writing poems, essays, and short stories under the pen name "Lizzie" to supplement the family's income. The family consisted of John, Eliza and five children: Henry Clay Bannard, Hubbard Francis Bannard, Walter Clifton Bannard, Estella Stone Bannard, and the youngest, Otto Tremont Bannard.
Otto studied in the preparatory department of Beloit College before attending Yale University, where he was a member of the senior society Skull and Bones, and from which he was graduated with a B.A. in 1876. He was granted an LL.B. degree from Columbia Law School in 1878.
Business and political career
Otto T. Bannard entered the banking profession, becoming in 1893 the president of the Continental Trust Company. The company merged in 1894 with the New York Security and Trust Company under the name of the New York Trust Company. Bannard was elected president of the corporation. Via a series of mergers it ultimately became Chemical Bank.
He ran, as a candidate for the mayor of New York City in 1909, in a three-man election that was won by William J. Gaynor. Bannard came in second, with William Randolph Hearst coming in third.
Philanthropy
In 1927 he was national chairman of a campaign that raised $21,000,000 for the endowment of Yale University. He served as a member of the Yale Corporation for eighteen years.
Death
Bannard died on January 15, 1929 at sea on the SS President Cleveland en route from Seattle to Manila in the Philippines, a journey he was making for the sake of his health. He is buried in the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut. His will left a bequest of about $2,000,000 to Yale University, in addition to the numerous gifts he had made during his lifetime.