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Theodore Whitmarsh

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Theodore Francis Whitmarsh (November 6, 1869 – May 12, 1936) was an American businessman and politician. Whitmarsh was active across several industries, including grocery, finance, and manufacturing. During World War I and in its immediate aftermath, Whitmarsh held a variety of posts in the U.S. federal government, most notably as the acting administrator of the United States Food Administration, member of the War Industries Board, and joint director of the American Relief Administration. Whitmarsh was later elected as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, serving eight years in the role.

Theodore Whitmarsh
Portrait of Whitmarsh, c. 1917–1918
Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
In office
January 1, 1924 – December 31, 1932
Preceded byRichard H. Williams
Succeeded byWalter C. Teagle
Joint U.S. Director of the American Relief Administration
In office
March 2, 1919 – July 1, 1919
PresidentWoodrow Wilson
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Acting Administrator of the United States Food Administration
In office
January 16, 1919 – February 25, 1919
PresidentWoodrow Wilson
Preceded byHerbert Hoover (as Administrator)
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Personal details
Born
Theodore Francis Whitmarsh

(1869-11-06)November 6, 1869
Brooklyn, New York, US
DiedMay 12, 1936(1936-05-12) (aged 66)
New York City
Resting placeSleepy Hollow Cemetery
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Lillian Ainslie Smith
​
​
(m. 1893)​
Children3
ProfessionPolitician, businessman

Early life and family

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Whitmarsh was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 6, 1869, to Caroline H. (née Leggett) and Henry C. Whitmarsh.[1] He was educated in public schools.[2] In 1893, Whitmarsh married Lillian Ainslie Smith. They had three children.[1][3]

Career

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Private sector

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In 1886, Whitmarsh began working for his uncle Francis Howard Leggett (1840–1909), who was a prominent wholesale grocer and the owner of Francis H. Leggett & Co.[4] In 1896, he became a member of the firm. In 1902, he became the vice president and treasurer of the firm. After the death of his uncle in 1909, Whitmarsh assumed control of the business as president.[4] Whitmarsh remained as chairman of the board of the company for the rest of his life.[5]

Other business holdings of Whitmarsh included serving as president and treasurer of the Seacoast Canning Company and as treasurer of the American Can Company. Whitmarsh was the member of corporate boards including the Irving National Bank, Irving Trust Company, Famous Players–Lasky, Greenwich Savings Bank, Audley Clarke Company, Straclar Holding Corporation, New York Mercantile Exchange, and the United States Chamber of Commerce.[6][7][8]

From 1915 to 1918, Whitmarsh was the president of the National Wholesale Grocers Association of the United States.[9][10] Whitmarsh was also the chairman and a longtime fundraiser for the United Hospital Fund, raising US$300,000 for the organization in 1929 and over US$500,000 in 1932.[11][12][13] Whitmarsh was also a close acquaintance of Swami Vivekananda,[14] and drew up a trust fund for handling the administration and proceeds from his book sales.[15][16][17]

Public service

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A Republican, Whitmarsh was active in New York politics.[18] In June 1917, Whitmarsh was appointed as the chief of the Distribution Division of the newly formed United States Food Administration.[19][20][21] In the role, he served as special assistant to Herbert Hoover, who was then serving as the director of the agency.[22][23][24] While in the role, Whitmarsh was a member of the War Industries Board, the Priorities Committee, the Requirements Committee, and the Belgian Relief Committee.[19][25] He was also the vice president, treasurer, and a board member of the U.S. Sugar Equalization Board.[26][27] In 1917, Whitmarsh was described as the person who is "seeing that the whole country gets a square deal on passing around the food."[2]

After Hoover departed for Europe in November 1918, Whitmarsh served as acting chairman of the Committee for European Food Relief, and as acting chairman of the United States Food Administration's executive committee.[28][29][30] President Woodrow Wilson appointed Whitmarsh as acting administrator of the agency in Hoover's absence.[31][32]

In 1919, Whitmarsh served as U.S. joint director of the American Relief Administration.[33][34][35] That summer, Whitmarsh spent two months in Europe working on post-war food provision issues.[36] In 1923, Whitmarsh was elected as a Class B director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.[37][38][39] Whitmarsh served in the role from 1924 until 1932.[40]

Awards and honors

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In 1918, King Albert I of Belgium awarded Whitmarsh as an Officer of the Order of the Crown for his work in Europe.[41] In 1933, Whitmarsh was a dinner guest of President Hoover at the White House.[42]

Death

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Whitmarsh died of pneumonia at New York Hospital on May 12, 1936, aged 66.[3][43] His funeral at Saint Thomas Church was attended by 1,500 people.[5] Whitmarsh's honorary pallbearers included George L. Harrison, Gates W. McGarrah, Walter C. Teagle, and Owen D. Young. He is interred at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Westchester County, New York.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b Merritt, Albert Newton (1920). War time control of distribution of foods: a short history of the Distribution Division of the United States Food Administration, its personnel and achievements. The Library of Congress. New York: Macmillan.
  2. ^ a b Leslie's Illustrated Weekly Newspaper. Leslie-Judge Company. 1917.
  3. ^ a b "T. F. Whitmarsh Will Filed". The New York Times. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Obituary – Francis H. Leggett". New-York Tribune. August 30, 1909. p. 7.
  5. ^ a b c "1,500 ATTEND SERVICE FOR T. F. WHITMARSH; Civic and Industrial Leaders Attend Rites-Dr. R. H. Brooks Officiates at St. Thomas". The New York Times. May 15, 1936. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  6. ^ The Motor Truck. 1921.
  7. ^ New York Supreme Court.
  8. ^ New York Produce Review and American Creamery. 1910.
  9. ^ Holman, Charles William (1918). Doubling the Wheat Dollar. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  10. ^ Cumberson, Perry T. (1917). The Wholesale Grocer. California Grocers Advocate.
  11. ^ "$593,000 AIDS HOSPITALS.; Business Men Raised $305,000 of Total for United Fund". The New York Times. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  12. ^ "HOSPITALS GET $141,201.; Trade Committee Gives Incomplete Report to United Fund". The New York Times. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  13. ^ "HOSPITAL FUND LISTS GIFTS TO FREE SERVICE; Total of $504,427 Lags Behind Last Year's – George A. Wilson Named Secretary". The New York Times. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  14. ^ Vivekananda as the Turning Point: The rise of a new Spiritual Wave. Advaita Ashrama (A publication branch of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math). ISBN 978-81-7505-905-4.
  15. ^ Letters of Sister Nivedita – Volume 2. Advaita Ashrama (A publication branch of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math). ISBN 978-81-7505-894-1.
  16. ^ Vivekananda, Swami (November 27, 2019). Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. Partha Sinha.
  17. ^ Vivekananda, Swami. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda – Volume 8. Advaita Ashrama (A publication branch of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math). ISBN 978-81-7505-869-9.
  18. ^ "H.N. STRAUS HEADS WADSWORTH DRIVE; Republican Business Men, Inc., Name F.D. Waterman Treasurer and J.S. Myrick Secretary. APPEAL TO JOIN IS PLANNED City-Wide Invitation Will Call On Commercial Interests to Take Part in State Campaign". The New York Times. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  19. ^ a b Preliminary Inventories: No. 1-. National Archives and Records Service. 1941.
  20. ^ Official Statement of the United States Food Administration. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1918.
  21. ^ Ukers, William H. (August 28, 2016). Coffee. anboco. ISBN 978-3-7364-0590-5.
  22. ^ Presidential Campaign Expenses. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1920.
  23. ^ Kellogg, Vernon Lyman (1920). Herbert Hoover: The Man and His Work. D. Appleton. ISBN 978-0-7222-9134-4.
  24. ^ Press, Golgotha (January 19, 2011). 50 Classic Biographies. BookCaps Study Guides. ISBN 978-1-61042-435-6.
  25. ^ "Food Control". Monthly Labor Review. 7 (3): 123–130. 1918. ISSN 0098-1818. JSTOR 41827305.
  26. ^ "Records of the U.S. Sugar Equalization Board". www.archives.gov. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  27. ^ Historical Studies of Wartime Problems. 1941.
  28. ^ Brooks, Sidney (1927). America and Germany, 1918–1925. Macmillan.
  29. ^ A Handbook of Economic Agencies of the War of 1917. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1919.
  30. ^ "United States Food Administration records". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  31. ^ CIS Index to Presidential Executive Orders & Proclamations: Apr. 30, 1789 to Mar. 4, 1921, George Washington to Woodrow Wilson. 10 v. Congressional Information Service, Incorporated. 1986. ISBN 978-0-88692-123-1.
  32. ^ Willis, Edward Frederick (1951). Herbert Hoover and the Russian Prisoners of World War I: A Study in Diplomacy and Relief, 1918–1919. Stanford University Press.
  33. ^ American Relief Administration Bulletin. 1919.
  34. ^ "The Rocky Mountain News (Daily) March 3, 1919 — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection". www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  35. ^ American Relief Administration. 1919.
  36. ^ "TELLS OF RELIEF ABROAD.; Whitmarsh, Just Back, Saye French Are Busy Cultivating Farms". The New York Times. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  37. ^ The Commercial and Financial Chronicle. National News Service. 1924.
  38. ^ Meltzer, Allan H. (2003). A History of the Federal Reserve, Volume 1: 1913–1951. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-52000-1.
  39. ^ "2 DIRECTORS NAMED FOR RESERVE BANK; State Bankers Select Robert H. Treman and Theodore F. Whitmarsh". The New York Times. October 20, 1923. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  40. ^ "Directors and Officers of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 1914–1956" (PDF). Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
  41. ^ National Wholesale Grocers' Association of the United States Special Bulletin. The Association. 1918.
  42. ^ Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Herbert Hoover: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President, March 4, 1929 to March 4, 1933. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1974.
  43. ^ "T. F. Whitmarsh Dies in 67th Year". Brooklyn Times Union. May 13, 1936. p. 24. Retrieved January 14, 2024 – via Newspapers.com. 
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