Eugene Higgins (1860 – 1948) was the rich heir to a carpet-making business, known as a ''bon vivant'', sportsman, and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

. A bachelor, when he died in 1948, his estate went to establish the Higgins Trust, at that time, the eleventh largest of its kind in the USA.

Background

Eugene Higgins was born on January 14, 1860, in New York City. His parents were Elias Smith Higgins (1815–1889), a carpet manufacturer who made a fortune with "labor-saving devices," and Emma Louise Baldwin (1827–1890). In 1882, he graduated from Columbia University, where he was a classmate of future Columbia president Nicholas Murray Butler.

Career

Higgins never worked for a living, though he did maintain a private office at 50 Union Square East. In 1908, his steam yacht the ''Varuna'' wrecked off the Madeira Islands; he received a medal for saving lives of several guests aboard. A sportsman, Higgins won the 1890 American fencing championship and was a proficient golfer, hunter, fisherman, and yachtsman. He maintained a townhouse on

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

in New York City and a country house in

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a town and the county seat of Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...

. In 1910, he ran into trouble with customers officials. In 1932, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Higgins was "not entitled to deduct for Federal income purposes the expenses of managing his securities in 1932 and 1933."

Personal life and death

Higgins was reputedly the "wealthiest bachelor in New York," ahead of George Washington Vanderbilt II, Mehmet Ali (brother of the Khedive of Egypt, Frank W. Riggs, and members of the

Goelet family The Goelet family is an influential family from New York, of Huguenot origins, that owned significant real estate in New York City. History The Goelets are descended from a family of Protestant Huguenots from La Rochelle in France, who escaped per ...

. He never married. Higgins died at age 90 on July 29, 1948, in Torquay, United Kingdom. He bequeathed $10,000 each to his brother-in-law Henry Mortimer Brooks (for his nephew, Reginald Brooks) and two nieces, "merely as a token of affection... knowing that they are all well and amply provided for."

Higgins Estate

In 1949,

The United States Trust Company Bank of America Private Bank (formerly U.S. Trust) was founded in 1853 as the United States Trust Company of New York. It operated independently until 2000, when it was acquired by Charles Schwab, and Co. and subsequently sold to, and became a ...

issued more than $18 million of "outstanding tax-exempt bonds" owned by Higgins' estate. In 1952, his personal secretary asked for $150,000 in recognition of his extra duties as chess and yachting expert. In 1953, the Higgins Estate was valued at more than $40 million ($ in dollars).

Higgins Trust

Eugene Higgins Scientific Trust (aka "Higgins Trust"), also known as the Eugene Higgins Science Fund, was founded upon his death.

Eugene Higgins Scientific Trust

In 1948, the trust donated $40 million to

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

Harvard 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 higher le ...

, and Princeton. In 1949, the trust gave another $600,000 to each of these universities for advanced scientific studies. In 1951, the trust donated another $1 million, shared equally, to Columbia, Harvard, and Princeton universities. The funds from this trust endowed chairs at

, Princeton, and Yale universities.

Eugene Higgins Charitable Trust

In 1976, Eugene Higgins Charitable Trust was founded, now based in Providence, Rhode Island.

References

External links

New York Times
search on "Eugene Higgins" *
Records of the Eugene Higgins Scientific Trust records, 1951-1974
at the University Archives, Columbia University, New York, NY {{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Eugene 1860 births 1948 deaths American philanthropists Rugs and carpets Columbia College (New York) alumni Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters