William Barclay Harding

William Barclay Harding (November 16, 1906 – June 30, 1967)[1] was an American financier who served as chairman of the board of Smith, Barney and Co. until his death in 1967.

William Barclay Harding
Born(1906-11-16)November 16, 1906
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedJune 30, 1967(1967-06-30) (aged 60)
Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S.
EducationGroton School
Alma materYale University
OccupationFinancier
Spouse(s)
Constance Fox
​
​
(m. 1929; div. 1943)​

Mary Reed Dodge
​
​
(m. 1943; his death 1967)​
Children3
Parent(s)J. Horace Harding
Dorothea Barney Harding
RelativesCharles D. Barney (grandfather)
Laura Barney Harding (sister)

Early life

Harding was born in New York City on November 16, 1906 and grew up in a townhouse on Fifth Avenue.[2] He was the second son of four children born to James Horace Harding (1863–1929) and Dorothea Elizabeth Allen (née Barney) Harding (1871–1935). His siblings were banker Charles Barney Harding (who married Marion Choate, a daughter of Joseph H. Choate Jr.), Catherine (née Harding) Tailer (wife of polo player Lorillard Suffern Tailer),[3] and the socialite and philanthropist Laura Barney Harding, who was a close friend of actress Katharine Hepburn.[4] His father was a banker and financier who served as a director of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and the New York Municipal Railways System.[5]

His maternal grandparents were Charles D. Barney and Laura (née Cooke) Barney, a daughter of Philadelphia financier Jay Cooke.[6][7] His grandfather, a former member of his great-grandfather's firm, Jay Cooke & Company,[8] founded Charles D. Barney & Co. in 1873 before retiring in 1907.[9] The business continued, under the same name with his father helping to run the firm.[9]

Harding prepared at the Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts before attending Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He later became a trustee of Groton.[10]

Career

In 1929, he joined the New York investment firm of Charles D. Barney & Co., which had been established by his grandfather.[1] Upon the 1938 merger of Charles D. Barney & Co. and Edward B. Smith & Co., which created Smith, Barney & Co.,[11] he became a partner in the new firm like his brother.[12] As a financier, he "was responsible for reshaping the financial architecture of many corporations, especially in the aviation industry."[1] In 1965, Harding and his older brother switched roles, and he became chairman of the board of Smith, Barney & Co., a role his brother had held since 1944.[13]

He was a founder of the Red Bank Airport and a member of the Monmouth County Airport Advisory Board. In 1955, at the request of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he headed an Aviation Facilities Studies Group to study air traffic control problems which eventually led to the formation of the Federal Aviation Agency. He also served on the New York City Council on Port Development and Promotion.[10] At the time of his death, he also served a director of Electric Auto Light Co. of Toledo, Ohio.[10]

Military service

During World War II, he entered the service as a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve, became a Captain the U.S. Army and was discharged from the Army Air Forces as a Colonel and was decorated with the Legion of Merit.[1]

Personal life

On March 30, 1929, Harding was married Constance Fox (1908–1972), a daughter of Edward Lyttleton Fox and Genevieve Morgan (née O'Brien) Fox (daughter of Judge Morgan J. O'Brien).[14] Before they separated in 1941, they were the parents of two sons and a daughter:[2]

  • Dorothea Harding (1930–1997),[15] who married writer and produce Blair Chotzinoff (1926–2005), a nephew of violinist Jascha Heifetz, in 1957.[16][17][18] He had previously been engaged to Gloria Steinem.[19] After having two daughters, they divorced and she married William H. Kobin.[15]
  • James Horace Harding (b. 1932), an aeronautical engineer who married Anne M. Weill, a daughter of Paul B. Weill, in 1957.[20][21]
  • Timothy Fox Harding (b. 1934),[22] a writer who married Patricia Anne Nye, a daughter of Selden Spencer Nye.[23]

After they were divorced on June 28, 1943 in Nevada,[24] Constance remarried to George L. Weissman and Harding remarried to Mary Newbold (née Reed) Dodge, the daughter of Latham Reed and former wife of Marshall J. Dodge, Jr. (grandson of Josephine Jewell Dodge),[25] in August 1943.[26] They lived at 435 East 52nd Street in Manhattan and in a 150-year-old farmhouse in Holmdel Township in New Jersey.[10]

A prominent philanthropist, he served as president of the New Jersey State Home for Boys in Jamesburg and a member of the board of director of the Allenwood Sanatorium.[10]

Harding died on June 30, 1967 at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, New Jersey.[10]

References
  1. "William Barclay Harding Dead; Chairman of Smith, Barney, 60; He Helped Realign Structure of Many Corporations Interested in Aviation". The New York Times. 1 July 1967. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  2. Court, United States Tax (1948). Reports of the Tax Court of the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 1054–1055. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  3. "Katherine Harding, Mrs. L.S. Tailer". www.loc.gov. Library of Congress. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  4. Hutto, Richard Jay (2006). Their Gilded Cage: The Jekyll Island Club Members. Indigo Custom Publishing. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-9770912-2-5. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  5. Hart, Thomas (1920). A Record of the Hart Family of Philadelphia: with a genealogy of the family, from its first settlement in America ; augmented by notes of the Collateral Branches, 1735-1920. p. 122. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  6. Preston, Eugene Dimon (1990). Genealogy of the Barney family in America. Barney Family Historical Association. p. 112. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  7. TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (25 October 1945). "CHARLES D. BARNEY, EX-BROKER, DIES, 101; Civil War Veteran, Son-in-Law of Jay Cooke and Founder of Investment House Married Jay Cooke's Daughter A Director of Many Firms". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  8. Barnes, Andrew Wallace (1911). History of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Banks and Banking Interests. Cornelius Baker. p. 79. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  9. "Broker Charles D. Barney to Retire". The New York Times. 18 June 1907. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  10. "William B. Harding, 60; Business, Civic Leader". Asbury Park Press. 1 July 1967. p. 2. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  11. "Citigroup - History". Citi.com. Retrieved on August 12, 2008.
  12. "Smith, Barney & Co. Promotes Two High‐Ranking Executives". The New York Times. 26 May 1964. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  13. Allan, John H. (3 January 1965). "Personalities: 2 Brothers Switching Roles; Charles and William Harding of Smith, Barney to Shift Pair in Investment Banking for Total of 77 Years". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  14. "CONSTANCE FOX WED TO W.B. HARDING; Ceremony in Italian Garden of the Ambassador Arranged to Represent a Chapel. MGR. LAVELLE OFFICIATES Bridal Procession Passes Through Floral Lane--Choir of St. Patrick's Cathedral Sings. Father Escorts the Bride The Bridal Attendants. Reception in Ballroom". The New York Times. 31 May 1929. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  15. "Paid Notice: Deaths KOBIN, DOROTHEA HARDING". The New York Times. 9 July 1997. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  16. Dahlheim, Alfred E. (13 September 1957). "Miss Dorothea Harding Future Bride Of Blair Chotzinoff, Producer at N.B.C." The New York Times. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  17. Dahlhelm, Alfred E. (2 November 1957). "LOCAL NUPTIALS FOR MISS HARDING; She Is Escorted by Father at Wedding to Blair Chotzinoff, an N.B.C. Writer-Producer". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  18. Husted, Bill (9 September 2006). "It's a new chapter for Chotzinoff sisters". The Denver Post. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  19. Marcello, Patricia Cronin (2004). Gloria Steinem: A Biography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-313-32576-2. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  20. "MISS ANNE WEILL IS MARRIED HERE; Bride in Civil Ceremony of James Horace Harding, Who Is Grandson of Banker". The New York Times. 30 November 1957. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  21. "James Hardings Have Son". The New York Times. 18 March 1964. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  22. Harding, Timothy Fox (1973). The Political History of Organized Labor in Brazil. Hispanic American Studies, Stanford University. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  23. Plemmons, Hannelli (29 April 1956). "MISS PATRICIA NYE BECOMES ENGAGED; Affianced". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  24. TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (29 June 1943). "DECREE TO MRS. C. HARDING; Former Constance Fox Wed William B. Harding in 1939". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  25. "Miss Mary Newbold Reed Becomes Bride Of M.J. Dodge Jr. in Heavenly Rest Church". The New York Times. 12 May 1935. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  26. "Mrs. Mary Reed Dodge Wed". The New York Times. 12 August 1943. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
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