William Sloane Coffin Sr.
| William Sloane Coffin Sr. | |
|---|---|
Coffin in 1917
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| President of the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art | |
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In office December 22, 1931 – December 16, 1933 |
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| Preceded by | Robert Weeks de Forest |
| Succeeded by | George Blumenthal |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 15, 1879 Manhattan, New York City |
| Died | December 16, 1933 (aged 54) Manhattan, New York City |
| Spouse(s) | Catherine Butterfield (m. 1920; his death 1933) |
| Children | William Sloane Coffin Jr. |
| Parents | Edmund Coffin Jr. Euphemia Sloane |
| Relatives | Henry Sloane Coffin, sibling |
| Education | Yale College |
William Sloane Coffin Sr. (April 15, 1879 – December 16, 1933) was an American businessman. He was a director, and later vice-president of W. & J. Sloane Company, his family's business, which was founded by his grandfather, William Sloane, from Kilmarnock, Scotland. He became president of the board of trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and founded the Hearth and Home Corporation to provide housing in downtown Manhattan, New York City.
Coffin was born on April 15, 1879 in Manhattan, New York City to Edmund Coffin Jr. and Euphemia Sloane, his brother was Henry Sloane Coffin. He graduated from Yale College with a BA in 1900, and an MA in 1904.
Coffin was a director of the family's furniture and rug business, W. & J. Sloane Company, and later its vice-president. He was elected a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1924, and in 1931 became president of the board of trustees.
W. & J. Sloane acquired the California Furniture Company, and in 1925 Coffin created a subsidiary, the Company of Master Craftsmen, to make Colonial Revival furniture in a factory in Flushing, Queens. Sloane was heavily involved in manufacturing and selling this style, and had another subsidiary, the Oneidacraft Company in Oneida, New York, which made it as well.
Coffin was involved in purchasing real estate properties from Trinity Church and redeveloping them. These houses are now located in the Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District. He founded the Hearth and Home Corporation, of which he was president, in order to renovate older buildings near downtown Manhattan to provide housing for middle-class New Yorkers, which Coffin saw as a solution to the "apartment house problem" of the late 1910s and early 1920s.
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