William Miller Sperry

---William Miller Sperry

William Miller Sperry (1858–1927) is the namesake of the William Miller Sperry Observatory in Cranford, New Jersey.[1] According to his sworn passport application, he was born on September 14, 1858, in Bristol, Tennessee. He moved to Cranford in 1898 and succeeded his brother Thomas Sperry as president of S&H Green Stamps. Buried in Fairview Cemetery (Westfield, New Jersey),[2] Sperry was the donor behind Sperry Park bordering the Rahway River in Cranford. The site is also part of the Rahway River Parkway, a greenway of the Union County Department of Parks and Recreation[3] Sperry's great-granddaughter, Frances Beinecke, is an environmentalist and the former president of Natural Resources Defense Council, and his grandson is William Sperry Beinecke.

References

[1]. Cranford Citizen and Chronicle, February 20, 1964, p. 1 et seq. http://www.digifind-it.com/cranford/DATA/chronicle/1964/1964-02-20.pdf [2].Tombstone picture. https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2013/311/120021610_13839655378...
[3]. Friends

Sperry Observatory

Sperry Observatory began as a $150,000 endowment to Union College by Mrs. Frederick W. Beinecke and son William, and was dedicated on May 21, 1967 in honor of William Miller Sperry, Mrs. Beinecke’s father. Mr. Sperry was a local philanthropist, president of Sperry & Hutchinson Co., and an avid amateur astronomer. The Sperry Observatory is the home of Amateur Astronomers, Incorporated, a non-profit organization. The observatory houses two of the largest telescopes on the East Coast for amateur use. The 18-foot East Dome is made of steel and it holds a 10-inch f/15 refractor built by AAI members. That telescope was presented to the college in October, 1972. The 20-foot West Dome is made of fiber glass and it is home to a 24-inch f/11 Ritchey-Chretien reflector purchased by AAI. To minimize vibration, each telescope rests on an 8-foot thick concrete pier atop piles driven 30 feet into the ground, all separate from the building.