Otto T. Bannard

Otto T. Bannard
Born	Otto Tremont Bannard April 28, 1854 Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
Died	January 15, 1929
Education	Beloit College
Alma mater	Yale University Columbia Law School
Occupation	Attorney, businessman
Parent(s)	John Winslow Bannard Eliza Landon Stone

Otto T. Bannard (1854-1929) was an American attorney, businessman and philanthropist.

Otto Tremont Bannard was born on April 28, 1854 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of John Winslow Bannard (1822-1911) and his wife Eliza Landon Stone (1821-1903). John Winslow Bannard had emigrated with his parents from Oxfordshire, England and settled in Schenectady, New York. He became a successful New York wholesaler of "narrow fabrics" (i.e., lace, ribbon, and embroidery), but suffered severe financial hardship as a result of the Panic of 1857. He relocated with his family to Quincy, Illinois, on the Mississippi River, at that time a significant market town and transportation hub. John purchased a small flour mill there, but ten years later the mill burned, leaving the family nearly penniless. John's wife (Otto's mother) began writing poems, essays, and short stories under the pen name "Lizzie" to supplement the family's income. The family consisted of John, Eliza and five children: Henry Clay Bannard, Hubbard Francis Bannard, Walter Clifton Bannard, Estella Stone Bannard, and the youngest, Otto Tremont Bannard.

Otto studied in the preparatory department of Beloit College before attending Yale University, where he was a member of the senior society Skull and Bones, and from which he was graduated with a B.A. in 1876. He was granted an LL.B. degree from Columbia Law School in 1878.

Otto T. Bannard entered the banking profession, becoming in 1893 the president of the Continental Trust Company. The company merged in 1894 with the New York Security and Trust Company under the name of the New York Trust Company. Bannard was elected president of the corporation. Via a series of mergers it ultimately became Chemical Bank.

He ran, as a candidate for the mayor of New York City in 1909, in a three-man election that was won by William J. Gaynor. Bannard came in second, with William Randolph Hearst coming in third.

...
Wikipedia