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John Pell Coster Train (May 25, 1928 – August 13, 2022) was an American investment advisor and writer. He was a founding editor of ''
The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published new works by Jack Kerouac, ...
''.


Early life

Train was born on the
Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...
of Manhattan to Helen Coster Gerard and Arthur Train. His father was a district attorney in New York City and the author of the popular "Ephraim Tutt" stories that appeared in the ''
Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...
'' in the 1930s and 1940s. He graduated from
Groton School Groton School is a Private school, private, college-preparatory school, college-preparatory, day school, day and boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts, United States. It is affiliated with the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcop ...
in 1946. He graduated from
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
with a Bachelor of Arts in 1950 and a Master of Arts in 1951. He was editor of ''
The Harvard Lampoon ''The Harvard Lampoon'' is an undergraduate Humor magazine, humor publication founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Overview The ''Harvard Lampoon'' publication was founded in 1876 by seve ...
'' and president of the Signet Society. In 1953, he co-founded and became the first managing editor of ''
The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published new works by Jack Kerouac, ...
'', which won attention by publishing extended interviews with such authors as
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...
,
Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'', and a U. ...
and
William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...
.


Career

Train served in the
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
. After working in
Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...
, he founded the New York investment counsel firm now known as Train, Babcock Advisors. During this period, he became the principal owner of Château Malescasse, a
Cru Bourgeois The Cru Bourgeois classification lists some of the Château#Bordeaux, châteaux from the Médoc that were not included in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, 1855 Classification of ''Crus Classés'', or Classed Growths. Notionally, ...
wine producer in
Lamarque, Gironde Lamarque (; Gascon: ''La Marca'') is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It lies in the Médoc, on the left bank of the Gironde estuary. A small car ferry crosses the estuary to Blaye. Populatio ...
in France. He was chairman of the
Montrose Group The Montrose Group is a stratigraphic group, a set of geological rock strata of Paleocene age, found beneath the North Sea and locally onshore in southeastern England. It was originally described from offshore exploration wells in the North Sea. ...
, investment advisers and tax accountants, and was a director of a major emerging markets
mutual fund A mutual fund is an investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase Security (finance), securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV in ...
. He was the founder-chairman of the Train Foundation, which since 2000 has annually awarded the
Civil Courage Prize The Civil Courage Prize is a human rights award which recognizes "steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk—rather than military valor." The prize was founded in 2000 by the Northcote Parkinson Fund. The goal of the prize is not to cre ...
for "steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk." The Prize was inspired by the career of
Aleksander Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag prison system. He was a ...
, with whom Train once worked closely. Asked whether he would prefer to receive the prize, or have it named after him, or be a judge, Solzhenitsyn chose the last, which he did to the end of his life. The trustees and directors of the
Civil Courage Prize The Civil Courage Prize is a human rights award which recognizes "steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk—rather than military valor." The prize was founded in 2000 by the Northcote Parkinson Fund. The goal of the prize is not to cre ...
include five ambassadors: American, English and South African. He was an overseer of the
Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations The School of Diplomacy and International Relations (SODIR) is the international affairs school of Seton Hall University, a private Roman Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in collaboration with the United Nations ...
at
Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...
(affiliated with the United Nations), and was a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...
and the
International Institute of Strategic Studies The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is an international research institute or think tank focusing on defence and security issues. Since 1997, its headquarters have been at Arundel House in London. It has offices on four co ...
(London).


Presidential appointments

Train received part-time appointments from Presidents
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
,
George H. W. 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 ...
and
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
as a director of government agencies and entities dealing with Africa, Asia, and Central Europe, respectively.


Other distinctions

Train had two decorations from the
Italian government The government of Italy is that of a democratic republic, established by the Italian constitution in 1948. It consists of Legislature, legislative, Executive (government), executive, and Judiciary, judicial subdivisions, as well as of a head of ...
for humanitarian work, and was an officer of the (British)
Order of St. John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there u ...
. In 1980, he helped to establish the
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
Relief Committee to provide medicine and food to the victims of the Soviet invasion, serving first as its treasurer and later as president. The ARC merged with the
International Rescue Committee The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization. Founded in 1933 as the International Relief Association, at the request of Albert Einstein, and changing its name in 1 ...
, whose board he joined. He was an original trustee of the
American University in Bulgaria The American University in Bulgaria (AUBG) is a private university in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. Established in 1991, AUBG had about 1,000 students from over 40 countries on 5 continents as of Fall 2022. Close to 40% of the students are internationa ...
.


Personal life

Train was a descendant of an old New England family, he was a cousin of the late
United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...
Claiborne Pell Claiborne de Borda Pell (November 22, 1918 – January 1, 2009) was an American politician and writer who served as a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island for six terms from 1961 to 1997. He was the sponsor of the 1972 bill that reformed the Basic ...
, chairman of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for authorizing and overseeing foreign a ...
, and of
Russell E. Train Russell Errol Train (June 4, 1920 – September 17, 2012) was the second administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), from September 1973 to January 1977 and the founder chairman emeritus of World Wildlife Fund (WWF). As the sec ...
, head of the
United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...
under
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 ...
and a founding trustee/former chairman of the
World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...
. John Train's siblings include ambassadors, military officers and other officials. Train married Maria Teresa Cini di Pianzano; they had two daughters and later divorced. In 1977, he married Francie Cheston. and had two more daughters. One of his children became an active member of his firm. Another daughter was married to
Paul Klebnikov Paul Klebnikov (; June 3, 1963  – July 9, 2004) was an American journalist and historian of Russia. He worked for ''Forbes'' magazine for more than 10 years and at the time of his death was chief editor of the Russian edition of ''Forbes' ...
, a journalist murdered in Russia. Train died on August 13, 2022, at a hospital in
Rockport, Maine Rockport is a town in Knox County, Maine, United States. It is 35 miles (56.3 km) southeast of Augusta. The population was 3,644 at the 2020 census. Rockport is a popular tourist destination and art colony. History Rockport, or "the River ...
, aged 94.


Select bibliography

Train wrote several hundred columns in ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'', London's ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'', and other publications. Also, about 25 books, translated into many languages, including: * ''Money Masters of Our Time'' (
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
, ) * ''Investing and Managing Trusts Under the New Prudent Investor Rule: A Guide for Trustees, Investment Advisors, & Lawyers'' (
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
, ) * ''The Craft of Investing'' (
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
, ) * ''The Midas Touch: The Strategies That Have Made Warren Buffett "America's Preeminent Investor" '' (
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
, ) * ''Dance of the Money Bees: A Professional Speaks Frankly on Investing'' (
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
, ) * ''The Olive: Tree of Civilization'' (M.T. Train/Scala Books, ) * ''The Orange: Golden Joy'' (M.T. Train/Scala Books, ) * ''Comfort Me With Apples'' (M.T. Train/Scala Books, ) He has also written several humorous books, including ''John Train's Most Remarkable Names'' (which produced two sequels), ''Most Remarkable Occurrences'', '' Wit: The Best Things Ever Said'', ''Love'', and others (mostly HarperCollins), all in the same format.


References


External links


John Train's The Broadside
: Blog, with excerpts from his columns and books
Train, Babcock Advisors LLCCivil Courage PrizeJohn Train papers, MSS 58
{{DEFAULTSORT:Train, John 1928 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American expatriates in France American finance and investment writers American investment advisors American magazine founders American male non-fiction writers Businesspeople from New York City Groton School alumni Harvard College alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni People from the Upper East Side The American Spectator people The Harvard Lampoon alumni United States Army soldiers