V. Everit Macy

Valentine Everit Macy(1871-1930) was an American statesman and industrialist. He served as the commissioner of the Westchester County, New York Department of Charities and Corrections from 1913-1919, as Commissioner of Public Welfare in 1925, and as Commissioner of Parks from 1926-1930. He also served as president of the National Civic Federation. His wife, Edith Carpenter Macy was a prominent member of the Girl Scout National Board of Directors.

Biography

V. Everit Macy, as he liked to be known, had been born into a wealthy and well connected family of New York industrialists. He was named for his maternal grandfather, a Brooklyn leather merchant. His great-grandfather Josiah Macy had been a prominent shipping magnate on Nantucket. The Macy family had founded an oil company which built the State of New York's first oil refinery near Long Island City. Everit's father, known as Josiah Macy Jr., sold out to the Standard Oil trust and served on that company's board. His mother, Caroline Macy, was a benefactor of Columbia University, donating the funds to build Macy Hall.

At the death of his father in 1876, the 5 year old V. Everit Macy inherited over $20,000,000. He was interested in design and architecture from an early age, and studied architecture at Columbia University, though he never practiced. He would later serve on the board at Teachers College, Columbia and would also serve as its president. He was a major benefactor of Teachers College, donating funds to build the Morningside Heights building that houses the Horace Mann School.

He died in an Arizona Hotel in March, 1930.