Pierre Jay (May 4, 1870 – November 24, 1949) was the first chairman of the

Federal Reserve Bank of New York The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses the State of New York, the 12 northern counties of Ne ...

Early life

Jay was born on May 4, 1870 in

Warwick, New York Warwick is a town in the southwestern part of Orange County, New York, United States. Its population was 32,027 at the 2020 census. The town contains three villages ( Florida, Greenwood Lake, and Warwick) and eight hamlets ( Amity, Bellvale ...

. He was the son of Rev. Peter Augustus Jay (1841–1875), a protestant Episcopal clergyman, and Julia (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Post) Jay. Jay grew up in

Rye, New York Rye is a coastal suburb of New York City in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is separate from the Town of Rye, which has more land area than the city. The City of Rye, formerly the Village of Rye, was part of the Town until it r ...

at the Jay Estate ancestral home of his great-great grandfather, American Founding Father,

John Jay John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, patriot, diplomat, abolitionist, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served as the second governor of New York and the f ...

. Among his siblings was

Mary Rutherfurd Jay Mary Rutherfurd Jay (1872–1953) was one of America's earliest landscape architects and an advocate of horticultural education and careers for women."Mary Rutherfurd Jay – Garden Architect" Exhibit Catalog, Jay Heritage Center, 2015 The gr ...

, one of America's earliest

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

s."Mary Rutherfurd Jay – Garden Architect" Exhibit Catalog, Jay Heritage Center, 2015 His maternal grandparents were Dr. Alfred Charles Post and Harriet (née Beers) Post and his paternal grandparents were John Clarkson Jay and Laura (née Prime) Jay (herself the daughter of prominent banker

Nathaniel Prime Nathaniel Prime (January 30, 1768 – November 26, 1840) was a New York broker and banker. Early life Prime was born in Rowley, Massachusetts on January 30, 1768. He was the son of Joshua Prime and Bridget Hammond Prime. In his early years, h ...

of Prime, Ward & King). Jay attended the

Groton School Groton School (founded as Groton School for Boys) is a private college-preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts. Ranked as one of the top five boarding high schools in the United States in Niche (2021–2022), it is affiliated ...

, graduating in 1888 before attending

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

, where he graduated in 1892, and was a member of

Skull and Bones Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bone ...

, one of the best known of the

secret societies A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ...

based at Yale University. He received an honorary A.M. from Yale in 1917.

Career

After Yale, he was associated with Post and Flagg, bankers in New York and served as vice president of the Old Colony Trust Company in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, from 1903 to 1906. From 1906 to 1909, he was Bank Commissioner of the Commonwealth of

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where, in 1908, he, along with

ian business man and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

Edward Filene Edward Albert Filene (September 3, 1860 – September 26, 1937) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known for building the Filene's department store chain and for his decisive role in pioneering credit unions across the Un ...

, helped organize public hearings on creating

credit union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including deposit accounts, provis ...

legislation in Massachusetts, leading to the passage of the Massachusetts Credit Union Act in 1909. This legislation was the first to enable the formation of credit unions in the United States. Jay also became the first-ever chairman of the

New York Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses the State of New York, the 12 northern counties of Ne ...

in 1913 after its formation until January 1, 1927 when he was sent to Berlin to be the American member of the transfer committee under the

Dawes Plan The Dawes Plan (as proposed by the Dawes Committee, chaired by Charles G. Dawes) was a plan in 1924 that successfully resolved the issue of World War I reparations that Germany had to pay. It ended a crisis in European diplomacy following Wor ...

. Jay was also one of the founders of

Fiduciary Trust Company International Fiduciary Trust Company International is a United States-based wealth management firm that provides investment management and wealth management services. It has served high-net-worth families, foundations, and endowments since 1931. , the firm h ...

, now a subsidiary of

Franklin Templeton Franklin Resources, Inc. is an American multinational holding company that, together with its subsidiaries, is referred to as Franklin Templeton; it is a global investment firm founded in New York City in 1947 as Franklin Distributors, Inc. It is ...

, serving as board chairman from 1930 to 1945, and honorary chairman in 1945.

Personal life

In 1897, Jay was married to Louisa Shaw Barlow (d. 1965), the daughter of Maj. Gen. Francis Channing Barlow and Ellen (née Shaw) Barlow, sister of Col. Robert Gould Shaw. Her father served as New York Secretary of State and the

State Attorney General The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the federal district, or of any of the territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney gener ...

. Together, they were the parents of: * Ellen Jay (1898–1995), who married Lloyd K. Garrison. * Anna Maricka "Nancy" Jay (1900–1982), who married Alexander Duer Harvey, the great-grandson of John Van Buren, second son of President

Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...

. * Frances Jay (1904–1979), who did not marry. * Luiza Jay (1909–1980), who married Imre de Vegh, son of Charles de Vegh a member of the Upper Chamber of the

Hungarian Parliament The National Assembly ( hu, Országgyűlés, lit=Country Assembly) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to 4-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-propo ...

. She later married Lawrence W. Fox. Jay died at his home, 133 East 64th Street in New York City on November 24, 1949.

References

External links

* Pierre Jay papers (MS 660). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library

* *
Jay Heritage Center - Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jay, Pierre 1870 births 1949 deaths Yale University alumni People from Rye, New York Jay family People from the Upper East Side People from Warwick, New York Groton School alumni American bankers Businesspeople from New York City American corporate directors