George Dupont Pratt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Dupont Pratt (16 August 1869 - 20 January 1935) was a conservationist, philanthropist, Boy Scout sponsor, big-game hunter and collector of ancient antiquities.
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[edit] Early life
Pratt was born in Brooklyn, NY, the third son of Standard Oil magnate Charles Pratt and Mary Helen Richardson.
He was brother to Frederic B. Pratt, Herbert L. Pratt, John Teele Pratt and Harold I. Pratt; and half-brother to Charles Millard Pratt.
He graduated from Amherst College in 1893.
[edit] Career
Pratt worked for the Long Island Rail Road for many years, ending as assistant to the president and superintendent of ferries.
As an early member of the Camp Fire Club he became interested in conservation and for 25 years served on its committee on conservation. He was Conservation Commissioner of New York from 1915 to 1921.
Pratt was a trustee of Amherst College, the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum, vice president of the Pratt Institute, and president of the American Forestry Association.
[edit] Heritage
His house "Killenworth" at Glen Cove was one of the larger Pratt family mansions, built in 1913 in a Tudor style, with 39 panelled rooms, thirteen bathrooms, twelve fireplaces, five cellars, a swimming pool, and flower beds tended by 50 gardeners. It was designed by Trowbridge and Ackerman. By the 1950's it was purchased by the then Soviet Union to serve as the retreat for the Russian delegation to the United Nations.
[edit] Personal life
He married Helen Deming (Sherman) Pratt, the great granddaughter of American founding father Roger Sherman; her sister Gertrude Mary (Sherman) Trowbridge was the grandmother of US Secretary of Commerce Alexander Buel Trowbridge, who was also an executive in the Rockefeller/Pratt oil business.
Pratt died at home in Glen Cove on 20 January, 1935.
Pratt's son, Sherman Pratt was an explorer, and joint founder of Marineland of Florida, the world's first oceanarium.
