Emil "Bus" Mosbacher Jr. (April 1, 1922 – August 13, 1997) was a two-time

America's Cup The America's Cup is a sailing competition and the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy (known ...

-winning

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

sman, the founding chairman of

Operation Sail Operation Sail refers to a series of sailing events held to celebrate special occasions and features sailing vessels from around the world. Each event is coordinated by Operation Sail, Inc., a non-profit organization established in 1961 by U.S. Pr ...

, and

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during the administration of President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

Life and career

Mosbacher was born in

White Plains, New York White Plains is a city in and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, and a commercial hub of Westchester County, a densely populated suburban county that is home to about one milli ...

. He was the brother of Robert Mosbacher Sr., also a champion yachtsman, and U.S. Secretary of Commerce during the administration of President

George Herbert Walker Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

. He was the son of Gertrude (née Schwartz) and Emil Mosbacher Sr., a wealthy stock trader who divested himself of his holdings just before the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and who, as a member of the Knickerbocker Yacht Club, helped formulate specifications for the Interclub class of racing sloops. His family was of German Jewish descent. "Bus" Mosbacher graduated from

The Choate School Choate Rosemary Hall ( ) is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1890, it took its present name and began a co-educational system with the 1978 merger of ''The Ch ...

(now Choate Rosemary Hall) in 1939 and from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

in 1943. During World War II, Mosbacher served on a Navy minesweeper in the Pacific. In the 1940s and 1950s he oversaw his family's oil, natural gas and real estate business. Mosbacher is best known for his yacht racing. In 1962, even before his two

victories, he was described by

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as "the finest helmsman of our time." As a schoolboy sailor he had been Junior Champion of Long Island Sound sailing an

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, and at Dartmouth he led the sailing team to two Intercollegiate Championships (the McMillan Cup 1941 & 42). During the 1950s he won eight consecutive Long Island Sound season championships in the International One-Design Class, and in 1959 he was Southern Ocean Racing Conference (SORC) champion. In 1958 he and Warner Wilcox founded the Mamaroneck Frostbite Association, for racing 9' Dyer Dhows in winter, in response to discrimination by some of the yacht clubs against having Jewish members. Mosbacher successfully defended the America's Cup in 1962 at

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

in the sloop ''Weatherly'', and again in 1967 in the

12-metre class The 12 Metre class is a rating class for racing sailboats that are designed to the International rule. It enables fair competition between boats that rate in the class whilst retaining the freedom to experiment with the details of their designs. ...

yacht '' Intrepid''. Mosbacher was appointed

shortly before President Nixon's inauguration in 1969 and served until 1972. He was founding chairman of

, which brought hundreds of

tall ship A tall ship is a large, traditionally-rigging, rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. "Tall ship" can also be defined more specifically by an organization, such as for a r ...

s to New York during the

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in 1976. He was also an organizer of Operation Sail events in 1986, marking the centennial of the

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, and 1992, marking the cinquecentennial of Columbus's voyage. His numerous other offices included Commodore of the

New York Yacht Club The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. ...

, chairman of the

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and formerly The Hoover Institute and Library on War, Revolution, and Peace) is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, and directorships of

Chemical Bank Chemical Bank, headquartered in New York City, was the principal operating subsidiary of Chemical Banking Corporation, a bank holding company. In 1996, it acquired Chase Bank, adopted the Chase name, and became the largest bank in the United Stat ...

, Chubb,

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, and other companies. Mosbacher died in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...

Awards

In 1967 Mosbacher received the Martini & Rossi trophy, thereby becoming the United States' sailor of the year along with Betty Foulk. In 1986, he received the Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a nonprofit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest-achieving people in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet one ano ...

. Mosbacher was elected into the inaugural class of the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 1993 and the inaugural class of the U.S. National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mosbacher, Emil 1922 births 1997 deaths American male sailors (sport) American people of German-Jewish descent Businesspeople from New York (state) Choate Rosemary Hall alumni Dartmouth Big Green sailors Dartmouth College alumni Hoover Institution people Jewish American sportspeople Jewish sailors (sport) Members of the New York Yacht Club Nixon administration personnel Sportspeople from White Plains, New York United States Navy personnel of World War II US Sailor of the Year 1962 America's Cup sailors 1967 America's Cup sailors Chiefs of protocol of the United States 20th-century American sportsmen