Childs Frick (March 12, 1883 - May 8, 1965) was an American vertebrate paleontologist. He was a trustee of the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

and a major benefactor of its Department of Paleontology, which in 1916 began a long partnership with him. He established its Frick Laboratory. He also made many expeditions to the American West, and his efforts helped to shape an understanding of the evolution of North American camels. By employing many field workers, Frick accumulated over 200,000 fossil mammals, which later were donated to the Museum.

Biography

Frick was born in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

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, the son of the coke and

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

magnate

Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company and played a major ...

(1849–1919) and Adelaide Howard Childs. He grew up at the family's Pittsburgh estate, Clayton, although the family later moved in 1905 to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He developed his lifelong love for animals playing in the wooded grounds and steep hills behind Clayton, later dedicated as Frick Park. He attended Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh and graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1905, where he was a member of Colonial Club. In 1913, Frick married Frances Shoemaker Dixon (1892–1953) of

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. The couple had four children: Adelaide, Frances, Martha Howard (Marsie; wife of J. Fife Symington Jr.), and Henry Clay II. As a gift, Frick's father purchased a Georgian-style mansion in Roslyn Harbor, New York, on land that originally belonged to the poet

William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the '' New York Evening Post''. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poe ...

. The couple lived at the estate, named " Clayton" after his childhood home, for more than 50 years. Henry Clay Frick famously played favorites with his two surviving children, Childs and Helen Clay Frick (1888–1984). After the reading of their father's will, which favored Helen, the two siblings were estranged for the rest of their lives. Childs Frick was associated with

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, having established a residence in Tucker’s Town, Bermuda. To this day there is a Frick's Point and Frick's Beach. Childs Frick was the philanthropic benefactor that helped support the expedition that rediscovered the Bermuda Petrel or Cahow in 1951 just off his property in an uninhabited island. Childs Frick died of a heart attack at age 82 in Roslyn. He is interred alongside his wife and parents in the Frick family plot at Pittsburgh's Homewood Cemetery. In 1969, Frick's Roslyn Harbor estate was purchased by Nassau County for the purpose of conversion into the Nassau County Museum of Art.https://www.untappedcities.com/gold-coast-mansion-on-long-island-houses-an-art-museum/

References

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External links

Childs Frick Building at AMNH
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frick, Childs 1883 births 1965 deaths Scientists from Pittsburgh American paleontologists Burials at Homewood Cemetery People associated with the American Museum of Natural History People from Roslyn, New York People from Roslyn Harbor, New York Shady Side Academy alumni Scientists from New York (state)