John William Sterling
| John William Sterling | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | May 12, 1844 |
| Died |
July 5, 1918 (aged 74) Causapscal, Quebec, Canada |
Resting place |
Woodlawn Cemetery, New York City, New York 40°53′20″N 73°52′24″W / 40.889°N 73.8734°W |
| Alma mater | Yale University |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Known for | Co-founder of Shearman & Sterling; bequest of $18 million to Yale University |
John William Sterling (May 12, 1844 – July 5, 1918) was a corporate attorney and major benefactor to Yale University.
Biography
John William Sterling was born in Stratford, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in 1864 and was a member of Skull and Bones.[1] He was admitted to the bar three years later.[2] He obtained an M.A. degree in 1874 and an LL.D. from Columbia Law School in 1893. He became a corporate lawyer in New York, and helped found the law firm of Shearman & Sterling in 1871, a firm that represented Jay Gould, Henry Ford, the Rockefeller family, and Standard Oil.[2]
On his death in 1918, Sterling left a residuary estate of $15 million to Yale,[3] at the time the "largest sum of money ever donated to an institution of higher learning in history"—equivalent to about $200 million in 2011 dollars.[2] After the estate appraisal was complete a year later, the Yale bequest was "about $18 million."[4] He required Yale to fund "at least one enduring, useful and architecturally beautiful building, which will constitute a fitting Memorial of my gratitude to and affection for my alma mater" and "the foundation of Scholarships, Fellowships or Lectureships, the endowment of new professorships and the establishment of special funds for prizes"—these mandates led to the construction of the Sterling Memorial Library, Sterling Law Building, the Hall of Graduate Studies, and the Sterling Hall of Medicine, and the endowment of the Sterling Professorships.[2]
Personal life
Sterling died July 5, 1918 while staying at the fishing lodge of Lord Mount Stephen in Causapscal, Quebec;[3] he is entombed at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Sterling's sister Cordelia donated the Sterling House and its surrounding estate —part of the Sterling Homestead—to Stratford, Connecticut.
Notes
- ↑ Prominent and progressive Americans: an encyclopædia of contemporaneous biography, Volume 2. New York Tribune. 1904. p. 212.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Jay Dockendorf (January 21, 2011). "The Sterling professors of Yale: evolution of a species". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Sterling Bequest to Yale". The New York Times. July 15, 1918. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
- ↑ "Yale Receives bulk of Sterling Estate". The New York Times. August 23, 1919. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
External links
- John William Sterling and James Orville Bloss from outhistory.org
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