Edmund C. Converse
| Edmund C. Converse | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 7, 1849 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Died | April 21, 1921 (aged 71) Pasadena, California |
| Occupation | Steel entrepreneur, banker |
| Title | First president, Bankers Trust |
Edmund Cogswell Converse (November 7, 1849 – April 4, 1921) was an American businessman, banker and baseball executive. He was a steel industry executive and participated in mergers that unified much of the American steel industry. Later, continuing an association with J. P. Morgan, he was the first president of Bankers Trust. Late in his life, the U.S. Steel founder consolidated 20 farms to create the 1,481-acre (599 ha) tract known as Conyers Farm in Greenwich, Connecticut. Conyers Farm remained unoccupied for 15 years after Converse's death.
Converse was born in Boston. After graduating from Boston Latin School in 1869, he secured an apprenticeship in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, with National Tube Works. He held several patents on improvements to tubing, such as lock-joints. After his innovations brought in several million dollars in sales, he became general manager of the company in 1889. Converse purchased a lot on 78th Street in New York City from railroad executive Henry H. Cook in the late 1890s. He had C. P. H. Gilbert build his house at 3 East 78th Street.
Converse moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, several years later, buying 20 farms and consolidating them into the 1,489-acre (603 ha) Conyers Farm, which he named after the Old English spelling of his family name. In addition to cows, pigs and poultry, the farm had apple, pear and peach orchards; butter, eggs and milk were produced there. Conyers Farm was unoccupied from Converse's 1921 death to 1936. Since the farm began accommodating luxury homes in the 1980s, several celebrities have lived there, including Tom Cruise, Ron Howard and Jessica Biel.
In 1899, he and William Nelson Cromwell facilitated the J. P. Morgan-funded merger of National Tube Works with 20 other companies, resulting in an enterprise known as the National Tube Company. Within two years, another Morgan-financed merger resulted in U.S. Steel. Converse became the president of two banks in 1903, Liberty National Bank and Bankers Trust. He led Liberty National Bank until 1907 and Bankers Trust until 1913. He was the president of Astor Trust from 1907 to 1917, when it was merged with Bankers Trust. He served on the board of directors of U.S. Steel until 1916.
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