Leonard Jerome

Leonard Jerome

Leonard Walter Jerome (born November 3, 1817 in Pompey , Onondaga County , New York, † March 3, 1891 in Brighton , England) was an American businessman .

Live and act

Jerome was born in 1817 to Isaac Jerome, a descendant of Huguenot immigrants from France, and his wife Aurora Murray. After the successful completion of studies in law at Union College Jerome opened a law firm in Rochester , New York.

He later moved to New York City, where he made and lost huge fortunes several times through stock market speculation , which is why he was eventually nicknamed "The King of Wall Street" . In addition to his speculations on the New York Stock Exchange, Jerome's stakes in various railway companies were his main source of income.

As a lover of the fine arts, he founded the American Academy of Music, and as a friend of the sport, he and his friend the railroad millionaire William Kissam Vanderbilt founded the American Jockey Club. He also had the "Jerome Park Racetrack" race track named after him founded in the Bronx, where the first "Velmont Stakes" race was held in 1867. He later founded the "Coney Island Jockey Club" which in 1884 had the "Sheepshead Bay" race track built.

Jerome died in 1891 during a stay in England. His body was buried in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery .

In New York City, a street in Brooklyn ("Jerome Avenue") and a street in the Bronx (also "Jerome Avenue") are named after him. There used to be a Jerome Park and the Jerome Park Reservoir in the Bronx. In addition, line 4 of the New York transit line "Lexington Avenue-Jerome Avenue Express", partially named after Jerome.

Family and offspring

Jeromes married Clara Hall (1825-1895) in 1849 and had three daughters. The second eldest of them, Jennie Jerome , married the British aristocratic son Randolph Churchill , the second-born son of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough . From this connection two sons, Jerome's grandson, emerged: the future British Prime Minister Winston Churchill , whose third first name - Leonard - reminds of his grandfather, and John Strange Spencer-Churchill .

Jerome's daughter Clara married the businessman Moreton Frewen . The sculptor Clare Sheridan came from this marriage . Jerome's daughter Leonie married the Irish baronet Sir John Leslie, 2nd Bt. (1857–1944), the son of John Leslie , 1st Baronet Leslie of Glaslough. This marriage had four sons, including the diplomat Shane Leslie .