Samuel Mather

Samuel Livingston Mather
Samuel Mather in 1908
Born	(1851-07-13)July 13, 1851 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Died	October 18, 1931(1931-10-18) (aged 80) Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Businessman

Samuel Livingston Mather (July 13, 1851 – October 18, 1931) was an American industrialist and philanthropist from Cleveland, Ohio. He co-founded Pickands Mather and Company, a shipping and iron mining company which dominated these two Great Lakes industries from 1900 to 1960. For many years Mather was that city's richest citizen and a major philanthropist, contributing more than US$7 million to community-based organizations in the city.

Samuel Livingston Mather was born July 13, 1851, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Samuel and Georgiana Pomeroy (née Woolson) Mather. He was a descendant of Richard Mather, and Englishman who emigrated to North America in 1635. His ancestors were Samuel Mather, Cotton Mather, and Increase Mather. His grandfather Samuel Mather, Jr. (1745-1809 ) was one of the original founders and shareholders in the Connecticut Land Company, which bought the Connecticut Western Reserve (which constituted what later became northern Ohio) in 1792. His father, Samuel Livingston Mather (1817-1890) emigrated to the Western Reserve in 1843 at the age of 26, and in 1847 founded the Cleveland Iron Company. Samuel had one sister, Katherine Livingston Mather (born September 1853). His mother died two months after giving birth to Katherine, and his father then married Elizabeth L. Gwinn in June 1856. Mather's half-brother, William Gwinn Mather, was born in 1857.

Mather was educated in Cleveland's public schools, attending Cleveland High School before transferring to and graduating from St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts in 1869. Mather intended to attend Harvard University, but he suffered a serious injury working in one of his father's iron mines and spent the next two years convalescing. He spent several months traveling in Europe and returned to Cleveland in 1873, where he became an executive in his father's company.