Henry deForest

For the US Representative from New York, see Henry S. De Forest.

Henry Wheeler De Forest (18551938) was an American railroad executive, capitalist and industrialist.

He was chair of the executive committee of the Southern Pacific Railroad from 1925 to 1928, and chairman of its board of directors from 1929 to 1932.

He assisted E.H. Harriman in the recapitalization of the Wells Fargo Express Company, and was a longtime director of the Equitable Life Assurance Company. With Elihu Root he was the trustee of the majority of the Equitable's capital stock.[1]

He was a graduate of Williston Seminary, Yale (1876), and Columbia University Law School (1878). He was the maternal grandfather of Edie Sedgwick.

  1. "Henry de Forest, Lawyer, dies at 82", New York Times, May 29, 1938, p. 23.
Preceded by
Julius Kruttschnitt
Chairman of the Southern Pacific Railroad executive committee
19251928
Succeeded by
Hale Holden
Preceded by
nobody
Chairman of the Southern Pacific Railroad board of directors
19291932
Succeeded by
Hale Holden