Barrett Wendell Jr. (April 19, 1881 – June 3, 1973) was an American investment banker.

Early life

Monthly staff 1902,Harvard University Archives, HUPSF The Monthly (3)

Wendell was born on April 19, 1881, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the eldest child of Edith ( Greenough) Wendell and

Barrett Wendell Barrett Wendell (August 23, 1855 – February 8, 1921) was an American academic known for a series of textbooks including ''English Composition,'' studies of ''Cotton Mather'' and ''William Shakespeare,'' ''A Literary History of America,'' ''The F ...

, a well-known professor of English at Harvard. His mother was a national leader of movements to preserve historical sites. He had three younger siblings: Mary Barrett Wendell (wife of Geoffrey Manilus Wheelock and Reinier van der Woude), William Greenough Wendell (who married Ruth Appleton and Evelyn Fahnestock), and Edith Wendell (wife of publisher and

Mayor of Auburn, New York Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States. Located at the north end of Owasco Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in Central New York, the city had a population of 26,866 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city of Cayuga County, the ...

Charles Devens Osborne). His paternal grandparents were Jacob Wendell and Mary Bertodi ( Barrett) Wendell. His uncle was actor Jacob Wendell, father of

Catherine Herbert, Countess of Carnarvon Catherine Herbert, Countess of Carnarvon ( Anne Catherine Tredick Wendell, also known as Mrs Geoffrey Grenfell and Mrs Stuart Mommand; November 25, 1900 – 1977) was an American heiress who married into the British aristocracy. Early life Cathe ...

and Philippa Stewart, Countess of Galloway. His maternal grandparents were Catharine Scollay ( Curtis) Greenough and

William Whitwell Greenough William Whitwell Greenough (June 25, 1818 – June 17, 1899) was an American merchant who served as president of the Boston Public Library from 1868 to 1888. Early life Greenough was born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 25, 1818. He was the onl ...

, the president of the

Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Common ...

. Wendell graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1902, where he was on the varsity baseball team. For several years after graduation, he coached Harvard's team.

Career

Wendell joined Lee, Higginson & Co. (which had been founded by his wife's grandfather in 1848). After the original firm dissolved, and the

Lee Higginson Corporation Lee, Higginson & Co. was a Boston-based investment bank established in 1848 that was the home of many members of the Boston Brahmin establishment. The bank collapsed in the Swedish match scandal in 1932 while under the leadership of Jerome Davis ...

was formed, was a part of their Chicago office, eventually leading it. He retired as a director of the corporation in 1965. In 1919, Wendell compiled the ''History of Lee, Higginson & Co.'', which remained unpublished. He was a governor of the Investment Bankers' Association of America, an overseer of Harvard University and president of the Harvard Club of Chicago and of the Bond Club of Chicago.

Personal life

On June 18, 1910, Wendell was married to Barbara Higginson (1884–1971), at St. John's Episcopal Church in

Beverly Farms, Massachusetts Beverly Farms is a neighborhood comprising the eastern part of the city of Beverly, Massachusetts, in Massachusetts's North Shore region, about 20 miles north of Boston. Beverly Farms is an oceanfront community with a population of about 3,500, e ...

. Barbara was the third daughter of Francis Lee Higginson and Julia ( Borland) Higginson and a niece of

Henry Lee Higginson Henry Lee Higginson (November 18, 1834 – November 14, 1919) was an American businessman best known as the founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a patron of Harvard University. Biography Higginson was born in New York City on November 18 ...

. Together, they were the parents of: * Barbara Wendell (1911–2014), who Horace H. Soule of Boston in 1934. They divorced in 1938 and she married Chester Brooks Kerr in 1944. They also divorced. * Barrett Wendell III (1913–1987), who married Margaret Mitchell, daughter of Leeds Mitchell, in 1937. * Francis Lee Higginson Wendell (1916–1994), who married Camilla Alsop, daughter of Francis J. G. Alsop, in 1937. He later married Joan ( Monroe) Armour, the former wife of Charles Brooks Armour. Wendell died on June 3, 1973, at

Lake Forest Hospital Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital (NLFH) is a community-based hospital in Lake Forest, Illinois and a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, one of the nation's premiere academic medical centers. The hospital was establish ...

Lake Forest, Illinois Lake Forest is a city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 19,367. The city is along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest ...

References

External links

Wendell, Barrett, Jr., b. 1881
at

Portsmouth Athenæum The Portsmouth Athenæum is an independent membership library, art gallery, gallery, and museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States. It preserves and provides access to an extensive collection of manuscripts, r ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wendell, Barrett 1881 births 1973 deaths People from Boston Harvard University alumni American bankers