Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, II

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Gwynne_Vanderbilt_II

Alfred Gywnne Vanderbilt 1912-1999.

A sportsman, grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt II reputed to be the richest man in the world, of Mill Neck, died on Nov. 12, 1999 at 87. He was born in London 1912. His mother, Margaret Emerson, was from the Bromo Seltzer wealth and his father, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, died after giving his lifejacket to a woman on the Lusitania when the ship sank.

Mr. Vanderbilt was educated at St. Paul's School and Yale. He spent his life breeding, owning and racing horses. Alfred Vanderbilt Jr. was a noted horse breeder as well on Long Island. He ran the Pimlico Race Course and Belmont Park while he was in his twenties. He pioneered the use of the starting gate and the photo finish. He was the skipper of a PT boat and shot lions with Ernest Hemingway in Africa.

When he was 21, his mother gave him the 600-acre Sagamore Farm in Maryland. He bred horses there for the next 40 years. His line of stars began with Discovery who won six stakes races over all and sired 25 horses who won stakes. He was president of the Westchester Racing Association and served as chairman of the board of the NYRA for four years. He was chief executive of the Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga Racetracks. He was a member of the Jockey Club and was voted by New York's turf writers as the man who did the most for racing four times.

Mr. Vanderbilt's greatest achievement in racing was Native Dancer, whose name was one of the lineage puns for which Mr. Vanderbilt was famous. Native Dancer reigned as the champion 2-year-old colt in 1952 champion 3-year-old colt in 1953 and Horse of the Year in 1954. He went on to win the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes and six other stakes before retiring. And there was Next Move, the champion 3-year-old filly in 1950 and Bed o'Roses, the champion 2-year-old filly 1949 and the champion handcap in 1951.

In 1994, generations of Vanderbilts gathered in New York to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, who founded the Vanderbilt fortune, great-great grandfather of Alfred Vanderbilt. Some of his famous relatives were his aunt Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, artist and founder of the Museum of Modern Art; his uncle, Cornelius Vanderbilt III, brigadier general; another aunt Gladys Moore Vanderbilt, who inherited the Breakers, the family summer cottage in Newport, RI.

Mr. Vanderbilt's courtships and marriages were regulars in the society pages. In 1938 he married Manuela Hudson. In 1946 he married Jeanne Murray and in 1957 Jean Harvey, heiress to the Harvey restaurant chain and Cudahy meat-packing empire. The marriages ended in divorce. His children from three marriages are Wendy, Heidi, Alfred Jr., Victoria and Michael. Another son, Nicholas Harvey Vanderbilt, died in 1984. His other children survive him as do seven grandchildren. Other family members include: his half-brother William Henry Vanderbilt III, governor of Rhode Island from 1938 to 1940; his younger brother, George Washington Vanderbilt III, a yachtsman and explorer; his first cousin, Gloria Vanderbilt, the daughter of another uncle, Reginald Claypool Vanderbilt and a famous clothing designer.

Mr. Vanderbilt had a wide range of artistic interests acquired through his mother's circle of artistic and theatrical friends. His own friends included George Abbot, Hal Prince and Fred Astaire.

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ID: I048130 Name: Alfred Gwynne II VANDERBILT Sex: M Birth: 22 SEP 1912 in London, England Death: 12 NOV 1999

Father: Alfred Gwynne VANDERBILT b: 20 OCT 1877 in New York City, NY Mother: Margaret EMERSON b: 1884

Marriage 1 Manuela HUDSON Married: 9 JUN 1938 Divorced: 1942 Divorced: Note: Time Magazine, June 20, 1938

Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, 25, "most eligible bachelor in the U. S.." owner of Sagamore Farm and famed handicap horse Discovery, co-heir with his brother George to the $20,000,000 fortune of the late Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt; to Manuela ("Molly") 'Hudson, 26. California cousin-by-marriage of Charles S. Howard, owner of Seabiscuit; in Sands Point, L. I. Reported the New York World-Telegram: "Some cried, but Mrs. Margaret Emerson, Mr. Vanderbilt's mother, who has been married four times, was cheerful."

Marriage 2 Jeanne MURRAY Married: 1946 Divorced: 1956 Divorced:

Marriage 3 Jean HARVEY Married: 1957 Divorced: 1975 Divorced:

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New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 about Alfred Guynne Vanderbilt Name: Alfred Guynne Vanderbilt Arrival Date: 15 Aug 1914 Birth Year: 1912 Birth Location: London Birth Location Other: wimbledon Age: 1 Gender: Male Port of Departure: Liverpool, England Port of Arrival: New York, New York Ship Name: Celtic Search Ship Database: Search the Celtic in the 'Passenger Ships and Images' database

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Social Security Death Index about Alfred G. Vanderbilt Name: Alfred G. Vanderbilt SSN: 218-03-9000 Last Residence: 10036 New York, New York, New York, United States of America Born: 22 Sep 1912 Died: 12 Nov 1999 State (Year) SSN issued: Maryland (Before 1951)

Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, Jr. was a member of the prominent Vanderbilt family, a son of the first Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, who died a hero in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania. His mother, Margaret Emerson (daughter of the Bromo-Seltzer inventor Isaac E Emerson), was one of America's wealthiest women and most sought-after hostesses, operating at least seven large estates around the country.

Early years Of American parents, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, Jr. was born in London, England. His mother, Margaret Emerson, gave him a 600-acre horse farm in Glyndon Maryland called Sagamore Farm for his 21st birthday, and it was in Thoroughbred horse racing that he made his mark. The Vanderbilt family had by then given up control of most of their former railroad interests. Alfred G. Vanderbilt was President of Belmont Racetrack in New York and was the principal owner and president of Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

When he was called into service for World War II, he captained a PT Boat in the South Pacific, earning the Silver Star for bravery. He was promoted to lieutenant, junior grade on March 2, 1944. On his discharge, he returned to racing in a major way.

Racing Vanderbilt was one of the original members of the Westchester Racing Association and a driving force behind thoroughbred racing in America for most of the 20th century. His mother, Margaret Emerson, took him to his first race, the Preakness Stakes, in 1922. He often said, "After that, I was hooked." On his 21st birthday, his mother gave him Sagamore Farm, her racing operation in Glyndon, Maryland, which had been left to her by her father, Captain Isaac Emerson. Emerson was the inventor of Bromo-Seltzer and founder of the Emerson Drug Company, which later became Warner-Lambert.

Vanderbilt personally oversaw the breeding and training of his stable. He bought Pimlico Race Course and was President of Pimlico twice, the first time when he was 20. As a stable owner, his first major acquisition was Discovery, one of the great handicap horses of the age who became his foundation sire.

Vanderbilt continued racing throughout his life and served as Chairman of the Board of the New York Racing Association from 1971 to 1975. The New York Turf Writers voted him "The Man Who Did The Most for Racing" a record four times, posthumously renaming the award in his honor.

In the early 1950s, he was a regular panelist on the NBC game show Who Said That? along with H. V. Kaltenborn, Boris Karloff, and American actress Dagmar.