Edward Severin Clark (July 6, 1870 – September 19, 1933) was an American businessman, and the owner of the New York City apartment building

The Dakota The Dakota, also known as the Dakota Apartments, is a Housing cooperative, cooperative apartment building at 1 West 72nd Street (Manhattan), 72nd Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The Dakota was constru ...

Early life

Clark was born on July 6, 1870, in

Neuilly Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the Bois de Boulogne, the area is composed of ...

, France. He was the eldest of the four sons of

Alfred Corning Clark Alfred Corning Clark I (November 14, 1844 – April 8, 1896) was an American philanthropist and patron of the arts. Early life He was the son of Edward Cabot Clark (1811–1882) and Caroline (née Jordan) Clark (1815–1874). His father ...

(1844–1896) and Elizabeth (

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

Scriven) Clark (1848–1909). The brothers grew up in New York City and

Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and the county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in ...

.Nicholas Fox Weber. ''The Clarks of Cooperstown: Their Singer Sewing Machine Fortune, Their Great and Influential Art Collections, Their Forty-Year Feud''. Alfred A. Knopf, (May 8, 2007). After his father's death in 1896, his mother remarried to Bishop

Henry Codman Potter Henry Codman Potter (May 25, 1834 – July 21, 1908) was a bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States. He was the seventh bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Potter was "more praised and appreciated, perhaps, than any public man ...

. His paternal grandfather,

Edward Cabot Clark Edward Cabot Clark (December 19, 1811 – October 14, 1882) was an American lawyer, businessman and investor. Early life Clark was born on December 19, 1811, in Athens, New York, Athens in Greene County, New York. He was the eldest child of ...

, was

Isaac Singer Isaac Merritt Singer (October 27, 1811 – July 23, 1875) was an American inventor, actor, and businessman. He made important improvements in the design of the sewing machine and was the founder of what became one of the first American multi-na ...

's partner in the Singer Sewing Machine Company, and built Manhattan apartment buildings, including The Dakota. His grandfather died during construction of The Dakota and bequeathed it to Edward, his 12-year-old grandson and namesake.

Career

Edward and one of his younger brothers,

Stephen Carlton Clark Stephen Carlton Clark (August 29, 1882 – September 17, 1960) was an American art collector, businessman, newspaper publisher and philanthropist. He founded the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Biography Clark was the young ...

, built a number of large buildings in Cooperstown, including The Otesaga Resort Hotel (1909), the

Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital The Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital (Bassett Medical Center) is a teaching hospital in Cooperstown, New York. The hospital opened in June 1922. The hospital has 180 beds. It is associated with Columbia University. It is home to the Bassett Can ...

(1918), and the Alfred Corning Clark Gymnasium (1930). Another brother,

Robert Sterling Clark Robert Sterling Clark (June 25, 1877 – December 29, 1956), an heir to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune, was an American art collector, Horse breeding, horse breeder, and philanthropist. Biography Known by his middle name, Sterling Clark served ...

, founded the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.

Personal life

Edward, who never married nor had children, died at his farm in Cooperstown on September 19, 1933. "Fenimore House," the mansion he built for himself overlooking Otsego Lake, is now the

Fenimore Art Museum The Fenimore Art Museum (formerly known as New York State Historical Association) is a museum located in Cooperstown, New York, Cooperstown, New York (state), New York on the west side of Otsego Lake (New York), Otsego Lake. Collection strengths ...

. His former dairy farm is now the

Fenimore Farm & Country Village Fenimore Farm & Country Village, formerly The Farmers' Museum, is a museum located in Cooperstown, New York. It recreates rural life from the 19th century through exhibits and interactive workshops. There are more than two dozen authentic, ...

. He donated the sculpture ''

The Great God Pan ''The Great God Pan'' is an 1894 horror and fantasy novella by Welsh writer Arthur Machen. Machen was inspired to write ''The Great God Pan'' by his experiences at the ruins of a pagan temple in Wales. What would become the first chapter of ...

'' (1899) by

George Grey Barnard George Grey Barnard (May 24, 1863 – April 24, 1938), often written George Gray Barnard, was an American sculptor who trained in Paris. He is especially noted for his heroic sized ''Struggle of the Two Natures in Man'' at the Metropolitan Museum ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1907."George Grey Barnard and Pan"
from Columbia University Libraries.

Gallery

File:Fernleigh, Cooperstown, N.Y (NYPL b11707961-G91F108 041F).tiff, "Fernleigh" (1869) Edward Cabot Clark residence, Copperstown, New York File:The Dakota 1880s x.jpg, The Dakota, from

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

Lake (1880s) File:Columbia University, NYC (June 2014) - 27.JPG, ''The Great God Pan'' (1899) by George Grey Barnard, Columbia University File:Fenimore Art Museum Cooperstown.jpg, "Fenimore House" (1932), now

, Cooperstown, New York File:Farmers Museum entrance.jpg,

, Cooperstown, New York

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Edward Severin 1870 births 1933 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople Edward Severin Philanthropists from New York (state) American expatriates in France