Kenyon Painter

Kenyon Vickers Painter
Kenyon V. Painter at eighteen
Born	1867 West Chester, Pennsylvania
Died	1940 Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Resting place	Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland
Citizenship	USA
Occupation	big game hunter, banker
Spouse(s)	Mary Chisholm; Leila Maud Wyeth

Kenyon Vickers Painter (January 14, 1867 – March 20, 1940) was an American banker, noted big game hunter, art collector and philanthropist. In later life, he was convicted of misapplication of funds from his bank, and sentenced to prison.

Painter, as the head of the largest bank in Cleveland, Ohio, was extremely generous. He supported the Cleveland Museum of Art, as well as being a major sponsor of churches, and was one of the founders, along with his wife Mary Painter, of Western Reserve University, now known as Case Western University, one of the first universities in the county dedicated to the education of women. He was well known not only for his generosity, but also for his sporting lifestyle. He went on a number of safaris in Africa including one with President Teddy Roosevelt. He was also involved in early car races and was a cricket player in the athletic club in Cleveland.

Painter was born on 14 January 1867 in West Chester, Pennsylvania to wealthy parents, both of whom were Quakers. His mother, Lydia Ethel Farmer Painter, was a writer and an explorer whose exploits she detailed in her book Under Egypt's Skies. She also inherited the Farmer fortune which included the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad. His father was John Vickers Painter, who distinguished himself managing the Cleveland office of the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad Company, and subsequently became a private banker.

Painter attended St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire from 1881 to 1886, and then went to Yale University where he graduated in 1889. He married Mary Chisholm, who died within a few years without issue.

In 1904, after the death of his father, Painter built an eighty-room mansion in Cleveland on twenty-eight acres of land. Painter kept a small zoo and a deer park on the grounds. In 1909 he married Leila Maud Wyeth and they had three children who survived to adulthood.