Ivan Sergeyevich Obolensky

Ivan Sergeyevich Obolensky
Born London, United Kingdom
Parents Serge Obolensky
Alice Astor
Relatives Vincent Astor
(Uncle)

Ivan Sergeievich 6th Prince Obolensky-Neledinsky-Meletzky (born 15 May 1925) is a Russian American New York City-based financial analyst and corporate officer. He served in the United States Navy and worked as a publisher.[1]

Contents

Early life

Obolensky was born in London, Middlesex, on 15 May 1925, to Serge Obolensky and Ava Alice Muriel Astor. Obolensky is a great-great-great-grandson of John Jacob Astor and the grandson of John Jacob Astor IV, who died on the Titanic.[1]

He was educated at St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island, and graduated from Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1947. While at Yale, he was a member of St. Elmo, a senior secret society.

Career

After Yale, Obolensky became a writer working for Telavid Inc. Imports, and went on to serve with the United States Navy as a pilot. In 1957, he formed a publishing firm McDowell, Obolensky Inc. with a partner, David McDowell. The firm published James Agee's Pulitzer Prize novel, A Death in the Family (1957), and was the U.S. publisher for Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (1959). It was dissolved in 1960. Obolensky then formed a second publishing house, Ivan Obolensky, Inc. This firm continued through 1965, when he joined the investment banking firm of A. T. Brod & Company as a partner.[1]

Throughout his main career on Wall Street as a financial analyst, Obolensky has covered many prestigious accounts. He was Vice President of Moseley, Hallgarten, Estabrook & Weeden Inc., Stockbrokers and is currently Vice President of Shields & Company.

Marriages and children

Obolensky first married in New York, New York County, New York, on 10 October 1949 Claire Elizabeth McGinnis, of New York City.[2] She was born in San Francisco, California, on 7 March 1929, but this marriage ended in divorce in 1956.[3] She was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco, California, United States, the Finch Junior College in Manhattan, New York City, and at Miss Burke's School in San Francisco. She was the daughter of Felix Signoret McGinnis (Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, 25 January 1883 - San Francisco County, California, 17 March 1945), Vice-President of the Southern Pacific Company and Director of the Los Angeles Turf Club, Inc., and wife (m. June 1917) Clara Leonhardt (Texas, 14 April 1887 - San Francisco County, California, 25 January 1984). She later married secondly Garrick C. Stephenson (1927 - New York, New York County, New York, 3 February 2007), without issue.[4]

He later married Mary Elizabeth Morris, also of New York City, born in Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, on 16 January 1937.[5]

Obolensky has one daughter and two sons by first marriage, and one son by second marriage:

References

  1. ^ a b c Edwin McDowell (October 9, 1989). "The Media Business: Financial Analyst of Publishing Companies Who's Done a Thing or Two". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/09/business/media-business-financial-analyst-publishing-companies-who-s-done-thing-two.html. "Even if there were such a thing as a typical Wall Street investment banker, Ivan Obolensky, the senior vice president of research for Josephthal & Company, would not be it. That is, not unless the typical investment banker was also the London-born son of a Russian prince and a grandson of John Jacob Astor, who is said to have been the wealthiest man in America when he went down with the Titanic. Mr. Obolensky, 64 years old, is also a Yale graduate, novelist, former United States Navy pilot and one-time book publisher whose first list produced James Agee's Pulitzer Prize novel, A Death in the Family. ..." 
  2. ^ "Claire Obolensky Excommunicated After Wedding in Russian Church". New York Times. October 14, 1949. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10E16FB3F5F177B93C6A8178BD95F4D8485F9. Retrieved 2010-10-26. "The New York Roman Catholic Archdiocese announced yesterday the excommunication from the church of the former Miss Claire Elizabeth McGinnis, who was married here on Monday to Ivan Obolensky." 
  3. ^ http://www.howardmcginnis.com/retrospect/index.php?m=family&id=I34655
  4. ^ http://www.howardmcginnis.com/retrospect/index.php?m=family&id=I34655
  5. ^ "Ivan Obolensky to Wed.". New York Times. October 29, 1959. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=80772937&sid=1&Fmt=1&clientId=56233&RQT=309&VName=HNP. Retrieved 2009-02-17. 
  6. ^ "Mary Catherine Hicks Engaged". New York Times. 1 February 1981. http://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/01/style/mary-catherine-hicks-engaged.html. Retrieved 5 May 2010. "Mary Catherine Hicks and David Ivanovitch Obolensky plan to be married March 21. Announcement of their engagement has been made by Mr. and Mrs. George Thomas Hicks of Nashville, parents of the future bride. Her fiance is the son of Mrs. Garrick C. Stephenson and Ivan Obolensky, both of New York, and a descendant of the original John Jacob Astor. ... His father is a vice president of Moseley, Hallgarten, Estabrook & Weeden Inc., stockbrokers. The future bridegroom is a grandson of Mrs. Felix S. McGinnis of San Francisco, the late Mr. McGinnis, who was a vice president of the Southern Pacific Railroad; the late Alice Astor Pleydell-Bouverie, and the late Serge Obolensky of New York, who ran his own public relations concern." 

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