Angier Buchanan Duke (December 8, 1884 – September 3, 1923) was a trustee of Duke University from 1914–1923, as well as vice president and president of its Alumni Association.

Early life

Duke was born on December 8, 1884, in Durham, North Carolina. He was the only son of Sarah Pearson (

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 ...

Angier) Duke (1856–1936) and

Benjamin Newton Duke Benjamin Newton Duke (April 25, 1855 – January 8, 1929) was an American tobacco, textile and energy industrialist and philanthropist. He served as vice-president at American Tobacco Company, being also founder of Duke Energy. Life and career He ...

, and an heir to the

American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members ...

fortune. He was the brother of Mary Lillian Duke (who married his wife's brother, Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr.), and first cousin to the flamboyant heiress

Doris Duke Doris Duke (November 22, 1912 – October 28, 1993) was an American billionaire tobacco heiress, philanthropist, art collector, horticulturalist, and socialite. She was often called "the richest girl in the world". Her great wealth, luxurious ...

. Duke attended Durham's Trinity College, the institutional predecessor of Duke University.

Career

After his graduation from Trinity, he went into the family business with his father. He was a member of the Racquet and Tennis Club and the Calumet Club, as well as the Ardsley and Sleepy Hollow Country Clubs.

Personal life

In 1915, he was married to seventeen year-old Cordelia Drexel Biddle of the

Biddle family The Biddle family of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is an Old Philadelphian family descended from English immigrants William Biddle (1630–1712) and Sarah Kempe (1634–1709), who arrived in the Province of New Jersey in 1681. Quakers, they had emi ...

who were prominent in business, political and cultural affairs in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. By this marriage, which took place at

Holy Trinity Church Holy Trinity Church may refer to: Albania * Holy Trinity Church (Berat), Berat County * Holy Trinity Church, Lavdar, Opar, Korçë County Armenia * Holy Trinity Church, Yerevan Australia * Garrison Church, Sydney, South Wales, also known as ''H ...

in Philadelphia, "one of the oldest and richest Philadelphia families was united with one of the richest families of the South." Cordelia was a daughter of bank heir

Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Sr. Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Sr. (October 1, 1874 – May 27, 1948) was a millionaire whose fortune allowed him to pursue theatricals, self-published writing, athletics, and Christianity on a full-time basis. He was the man upon whom the book ''M ...

Together, Angier and Cordelia were the parents of two children: *

Angier Biddle Duke Angier Biddle Duke (November 30, 1915 – April 29, 1995) was an American diplomat who served as Chief of Protocol of the United States in the 1960s. Prior to that, at the age of 36, he became the youngest American ambassador in history when he w ...

(1915–1995), the

U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador The following is a list of United States ambassadors, or other chiefs of mission, to El Salvador. The title given by the United States State Department to this position is currently ''Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.'' Ch ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

, and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

. He married four times. * Anthony Drexel Duke (1918–2014), who became a prominent philanthropist. He married four times. After separating in December 1918, they divorced in 1921. After their divorce, Cordelia remarried to Thomas Markoe Robertson in 1924. Following the accidental discharge of his gun in 1905 during a hunting trip, his left arm was amputated below the elbow. In 1923, he drowned at Indian Harbor Yacht Club on Long Island Sound (near his summer residence in

Port Jefferson Port Jefferson (informally known as "Port Jeff") is an incorporated village in the town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island. Officially known as the Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson, the population ...

), when a boat overturned and he was unable to get back into the boat because of his missing hand. After a funeral at the Duke family home in Durham, he was interred in the Duke Mausoleum in Maplewood Cemetery in Durham.

In popular culture

John Davidson portrayed Duke in the 1967 musical film ''

The Happiest Millionaire ''The Happiest Millionaire'' is a 1967 American musical film starring Fred MacMurray, based upon the true story of Philadelphia millionaire Anthony Drexel Biddle. The film, featuring music by the Sherman Brothers, was nominated for an Academy ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Duke, Angier Buchanan 1884 births 1923 deaths American amputees Deaths by drowning in the United States Duke University Trinity College of Arts and Sciences alumni Duke family