John Jay Mortimer (1935 – 2013)[1] was an American financier and member of the prominent Mortimer family of New York.

John Jay Mortimer
Born1935
New York City, U.S.
Died2013
Tuxedo Park, New York, U.S.
Resting placeSt. Mary's-in-Tuxedo Episcopal Church Cemetery, Tuxedo Park, New York, U.S.
EducationSt. Mark's School
SpouseSenga Clark Mucci Davis
ChildrenMinnie Mortimer
Topper Mortimer
RelativesStanley G. Mortimer Jr. (brother)
Richard Mortimer (grandfather)

Early life

edit

He was one of six children born to Stanley Grafton Mortimer, Sr. (1890–1947)[2] and Kathleen Hunt Tilford (1890–1970).[3] His father was a stockbroker and U.S. amateur court tennis champion.[2] His siblings included Stanley G. Mortimer Jr. (1913–1999),[4] who was married to Babe Paley (1915-1978)[5] and then Kathleen H. Harriman (1917-2011),[6] the daughter of W. Averell Harriman,[7] Henry Tilford Mortimer (1916-1993),[8][2][9] Richard Mortimer,[2] Eve Mortimer (1918-2007),[10] who married Clarence Pell, Jr.[11] and later Lewis Cass Ledyard III (1911-1990).[12] His youngest sister, Katharine Mortimer (1923–2003), was married three times, including to Francis Xavier Shields, who became the grandfather of actress Brooke Shields.[13]

He was a member of the prominent Standard Oil family, Mortimer is the maternal grandson of its president Henry Morgan Tilford.[11] His paternal grandfather was Richard Mortimer, a real estate investor and member of Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families.[14][15] Through his father and paternal grandmother, Eleanor Jay Chapman Mortimer, she was a descendant of the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Jay, as well as the first colonial Governor of New York, Robert Livingston[16][13]

Life

edit

Mortimer grew up at Keewaydin in Tuxedo Park.[17] The family home was designed by Stanford White and once belonged to Pierre Lorillard III. His family, along with the Lorillards, were the founding families of Tuxedo Park.[18] His grandmother, the widow of Henry Morgan Tilford, was known as "one of the reigning dowagers of Tuxedo Park" for four decades. According to author Sally Bedell Smith, "her annual debutante dinners before the Autumn Ball determined which young women were approved for New York society."[6]

He was educated at St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts.

Mortimer was a financier in New York.[19]

Personal life

edit

Mortimer was married to Senga Clark (née Mucci) Mortimer, an editor at House Beautiful magazine.[20] Senga, the daughter of Col. Henry Mucci (1909–1997),[21][22] was previously married and had a son, Dwight F. "Peter" Davis IV, from that marriage to Dwight Davis III,[23] a grandson of Dwight F. Davis, the U.S. Secretary of War.[24] Together, they were the parents of:[11]

Mortimer died in 2013. His funeral was held in Tuxedo Park,[27] and speakers included his son and daughter, and Lewis Lapham, the editor.[27]

References

edit
  1. ^ "1940 United States Federal Census". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d Staff (April 6, 1947). "S.G. MORTIMER DIES". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  3. ^ "Deaths BLAINE, KATHARINE MORTIMER". The New York Times. April 17, 2003. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  4. ^ "Paid Notice: Deaths MORTIMER, STANLEY G." The New York Times. 13 August 1999. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  5. ^ Nemy, Enid (July 7, 1978). "Barbara Cushing Paley Dies at 63; Style Pace-Setter in Three Decades; Symbol of Taste". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 October 2017. Barbara Cushing Paley, the wife of William S. Paley, the chairman of the board of the Columbia Broadcasting System, died of cancer at their apartment in New York City yesterday after a long illness. She was 63 years old.
  6. ^ a b Nemy, Enid (14 August 1999). "Stanley G. Mortimer Jr., 86, Sportsman and Ad Executive". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  7. ^ Fox, Margalit (February 19, 2011). "Kathleen Mortimer, Rich and Adventurous, Dies at 93". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  8. ^ Smith, Sally Bedell (2012). In All His Glory: The Life and Times of William S. Paley and the Birth of Modern Broadcasting. Random House Publishing Group. p. 436. ISBN 9780307786715. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  9. ^ Staff (September 8, 1993). "Henry T. Mortimer; Stockbroker, 77". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  10. ^ "Eve Mortimer Ledyard of West Grove". 10 October 2007. Archived from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  11. ^ a b c Morgan, Spencer (18 December 2006). "The Mortimer Family". Observer. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  12. ^ Wallace, Andrew (December 5, 1990). "Lewis C. Ledyard 3d, A Lawyer Who Turned To Art, Horse Breeding". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  13. ^ a b "Deaths BLAINE, KATHARINE MORTIMER". The New York Times. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  14. ^ McAllister, Ward (16 February 1892). "THE ONLY FOUR HUNDRED | WARD M'ALLISTER GIVES OUT THE OFFICIAL LIST. HERE ARE THE NAMES, DON'T YOU KNOW, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR GREAT LEADER, YOU UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  15. ^ Patterson, Jerry E. (2000). The First Four Hundred: Mrs. Astor's New York in the Gilded Age. Random House. p. 218. ISBN 9780847822089. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  16. ^ a b L. Hamilton, William (May 27, 2007). "Stephen Gaghan and Minnie Mortimer". The New York Times.
  17. ^ Gaffney, Adrienne (March 6, 2014). "Minnie Mortimer's Upper East Side". Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  18. ^ Conant, Jennet (2013). Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II. Simon and Schuster. p. 59. ISBN 9781476767291. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  19. ^ Konigsberg, Eric (21 October 2007). "Why Is the Blond Smiling?". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  20. ^ Gordon, Meryl (October 5, 1998). "No More Mr. Nice Guy | With the death of owner Glenn Bernbaum, the party's suddenly over at Mortimer's. Café society breaks out the black armbands and exorcises a friend's demons". New York. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  21. ^ "Peter Davis | Editor & Socialite". ponyboymagazine.com. Ponyboy Magazine. 23 November 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  22. ^ Thomas Jr., Robert McG (24 April 1997). "Henry A. Mucci Dies at 88; Rescued Survivors of Bataan". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  23. ^ "Senga Mucci Bride Of Dwight Davis 3d". The New York Times. 13 May 1965. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  24. ^ Williams, Alex (29 February 2012). "Peter Davis to Introduce a Society Magazine". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  25. ^ "WEDDINGS; Tinsley Mercer, Topper Mortimer". The New York Times. 5 May 2002. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  26. ^ Gaffney, Adrienne (March 6, 2014). "Minnie Mortimer's Upper East Side". Gotham Magazine. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  27. ^ a b Theodoracopulos, Taki (9 November 2013). "Taki: RIP John Jay, my brave friend who refused to take part in vulture capitalism". The Spectator. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
edit