Joseph E. O'Connell Sr. was an American businessman and racehorse owner. Two of his horses,

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road (Ireland), N3 road that links Dublin ( ...

and

Celtic Ash Celtic Ash (1957–1978) was an English-bred Thoroughbred racehorse raised in Ireland who is best known for winning the 1960 Belmont Stakes. Background Celtic Ash was a bay horse bred by Lord Harrington. He was out of the mare Ash Plant and si ...

, won the

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over the worldwide classic distance of . Colt (horseracing), Colt ...

Early business career

O'Connell graduated from the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by educators Benedict Joseph Fenwick and Thomas F. Mulledy in 1843 under the auspices of the Society of Jesus. ...

in 1910 and went to work for the bond department of Lee, Higginson & Co. He remained with the company for five years before leaving to become the assistant to the president at the International Trust Company.

Military service

O'Connell, a member of the 9th Regiment of the

Massachusetts National Guard The Massachusetts National Guard is the United States National Guard, National Guard component for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded as the Massachusetts militia, Massachusetts Bay Colonial Militia on December 13, 1636, it contains the ...

, was sent to the Mexican border in 1916. After this, he returned to the International Trust Company. When war was declared on Germany in 1917, O'Connell enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

, where he remained until after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

ended.

Return to business

After his discharge from the Navy, O'Connell joined Kaler, Carney, Liffler & Co, an insurance brokerage. He remained there until May 1925, when he joined National Shawmut Bank as the assistant vice president of its credit department. On January 1, 1930, he was elected vice president of the company. He also served as vice president of the Shawmut Association and the Shawmut Bank Investment Trust. On December 31, 1935, O'Connell left Shawmut to become a resident partner of Soucy, Swartswelter & Co. In addition to working for Soucy, Swartswelter & Co, O'Connell also served a president of Pilot Publishing Company and in 1939 was elected to the board of directors of the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company. He later served as a director of Boston Edison and the Union Savings Bank of Boston. In 1942, after Soucy & Co. had been dissolved, O'Connell formed his own stock brokerage, O'Connell & Co.

Philanthropy

O'Connell served as the treasurer of numerous

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

charities, including St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum. He was also a member of the executive committee of

St. Elizabeth's Hospital St. Elizabeths Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Southeast Washington, D.C. operated by the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health. The hospital opened in 1855 under the name Government Hospital for the Insane, the first federal ...

Horse racing

O'Connell and Irish-born trainer Thomas J. Barry purchased a number of race horses from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

during the late 1950s. The pair purchased Cavan from Irish racehorse trainer Paddy Prendergast for an undisclosed sum. In the 1958 Belmont Stakes, Cavan upset 3-20 favorite

Tim Tam Tim Tam is a brand of chocolate biscuit introduced by the Australian biscuit company Arnott's Biscuits Holdings in 1964. It consists of two malted biscuits separated by a light hard chocolate cream filling and coated in a thin layer of textur ...

to prevent the horse from winning the Triple Crown. In 1960, O'Connell and Barry returned to the Belmont with the British-bred, Irish-raised Celtic Ash. Celtic Ash came from last place to win the race by 5 1/2 lengths, giving O'Connell a perfect 2–0 record in the race. Due to an illness, O'Connell was forced to watch the race from St. Elizabeth's Hospital. On July 7, 1960, O'Connell died at St. Elizabeth's Hospital following a four-week illness.

Personal life

A native of

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, United States. Alongside Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, it is one of two traditional county seat, seats of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in ...

, O'Connell resided in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located roughly west of Downtown Boston, and comprises a patchwork of thirteen villages. The city borders Boston to the northeast and southeast (via the neighborhoods of ...

during his adult life. He was the nephew of

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

William Henry O'Connell William Henry O'Connell (December 8, 1859 – April 22, 1944) was an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Boston from 1907 until his death in 1944, and was made a cardinal in 1911. Early life William O'Connell ...

. O'Connell was previously married to Dorothy McGaffee, with whom he had one son and three daughters. Their son, Joseph Jr, was married to

Pat Hitchcock Patricia Alma Hitchcock O'Connell (7 July 1928 – 9 August 2021) was an English-American actress and producer. She was the only child of English director Alfred Hitchcock and film editor Alma Reville, and had small roles in several of her fathe ...

, an actress and the daughter of

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

. He was survived by his widow Dorothy O'Connell (née Weilich), and their son Mark.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnell, Joseph E 1960 deaths American bankers American businesspeople in insurance United States Navy personnel of World War I American racehorse owners and breeders American stockbrokers College of the Holy Cross alumni Massachusetts National Guard personnel Businesspeople from Lowell, Massachusetts Businesspeople from Newton, Massachusetts Catholics from Massachusetts