Richard Whitney (financier)

Richard Whitney (August 1, 1888 – December 5, 1974) was an American financier, president of the from 1930 to 1935. He was later convicted of embezzlement and imprisoned.

Richard Whitney was born on August 1, 1888 in Boston, Massachusetts to George Whitney, Sr. He was a descendant of John Whitney (1589/92 - 1673), an English immigrant who arrived in America in 1635 and who settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. This prominent branch of the Whitney family of New York descends from Boston. Richard Whitney's father, George Whitney, Sr., of Boston, Massachusetts, was president of North National Union Bank, and educated Richard and his older brother George Whitney, Jr., at Groton School and Harvard University.

In 1910 he followed his brother, George Whitney, Jr. to New York City where he established his own bond brokerage firm Richard Whitney & Co. Two years later, using money borrowed from his family, Richard Whitney & Co. purchased a seat on the . His uncle had been a partner in J.P. Morgan & Co., and brother George proved invaluable because of his position at the Morgan Bank which allowed him to direct substantial business to Richard's brokerage.

Richard Whitney married the widow Gertrude Sheldon Sands in 1916. She was from Brooklyn, New York, and her first husband Samuel Steven Sands III was the step-son of William Kissam Vanderbilt (1849-1920). She had three children with Whitney. His father-in-law had served as president of the powerful Union League Club and Whitney became a member of a number of the city's elite social clubs and was appointed treasurer of the New York Yacht Club. In 1919, he was elected to the Board of Governors of the New York Stock Exchange and not long thereafter was named its vice-president.

...
Wikipedia