Robert Morgan Pennoyer
Robert Morgan Pennoyer | |
|---|---|
| Born | Robert Morgan Pennoyer April 9, 1925 |
| Died | August 13, 2023 (aged 98) |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (A.B.) Columbia Law School (LL.B.) |
| Spouse |
Victoria Parsons
(m. 1948; died 2013) |
| Children | 4, including Peter |
| Parent(s) | Frances Tracy Morgan Paul Geddes Pennoyer |
| Relatives | J. P. Morgan Jr. (grandfather) |
Robert Morgan Pennoyer (April 9, 1925 – August 13, 2023) was an American lawyer and author who was a member of the Morgan family.
Early life
[edit]Pennoyer was born on April 9, 1925 at his grandfather's home on Madison Avenue. He was the son of Frances Tracy (née Morgan) Pennoyer (1897–1989)[1] and Paul Geddes Pennoyer (1890–1970), a prominent lawyer who headed up the White & Case office in Paris.[2] The family lived in an English-Norman styled home on an estate called "Round Bush" in Locust Valley, New York.[3]
His maternal grandparents were John Pierpont Morgan, Jr. and Jane Norton Morgan. Among his extended family was uncle Junius Spencer Morgan III. Through another uncle, Henry Sturgis Morgan, co-founder of Morgan Stanley (who married Adams family descendant Catherine Adams), he was a first cousin of Henry Sturgis Morgan Jr. and John Adams Morgan.[4]
Pennoyer was educated at a boarding school in Switzerland and St. Paul's School in New Hampshire before attending Harvard College.[5] After returning from World War II, he attended Columbia Law School on the G.I. Bill, alongside Harold R. Tyler Jr., and Robert P. Patterson Jr., graduating in 1950.[6]
Career
[edit]After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he finished his education at Harvard in eighteen months so he could join the U.S. Navy at the age of 19. He served aboard the USS Pensacola, seeing action in the Pacific theater, where the Pensacola was involved in the Battle of Iwo Jima and was extensively damaged by enemy fire.[7] "At the end of the war, he was part of a unit that helped occupy Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido and was the first American to set foot on the island."[5]
After law school, he served as assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York under J. Edward Lumbard with Tyler and Patterson. From 1954 to 1958, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as assistant to the general counsel and as special assistant to the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs.[8][9] While there, he defended the U.S. Army during the Army–McCarthy hearings.[6]
Pennoyer joined Patterson Belknap as an associate in 1958. He became a partner 1962, becoming chairman, and practiced law there until his retirement in 1995.[6]
At age 90, he wrote his memoir entitled As It Was.[10]
Philanthropy and volunteer work
[edit]Pennoyer was a founder of Exodus House, a "halfway house for addiction rehabilitation in East Harlem" for which he was also a trustee. In addition, he supported Human Rights First (formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights), where he established the Pennoyer Fellowship Program. He was also a supporter of women's rights and a champion of the Alliance for Justice, a progressive judicial advocacy group.[6]
Personal life
[edit]In 1948,[11] Pennoyer was married to Victoria Parsons (1928–2013),[12] a daughter of James Russell Parsons of West Orange, NJ, a partner in Chubb & Son,[13] and granddaughter of Hendon Chubb, founding partner of Chubb & Son.[14] Together, they were the parents of:
- Russell Parsons Pennoyer,[15] who married Helen Elliot Bearn, a daughter of Dr. Alexander Gordon Bearn, in 1978.[16]
- Christina Lee Pennoyer, who married R. Scott Greathead, a son of Edwin Burton Greathead, in 1982.[17] They divorced in 1997.[18]
- Tracy Pennoyer, a doctor who married in Peter Sims Lowe, a son of William H. Lowe Jr., in 1979.[19] They divorced and she married John Winthrop Auchincloss II, a son of author Louis Auchincloss, in 1988.[20][21]
- Peter Pennoyer (b. 1957), an architect who married Katherine Lee "Katie" Ridder, a granddaughter of Bernard J. Ridder, in 1988.[14][22]
Pennoyer died at his summer home in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, on August 13, 2023.[23]
References
[edit]- ^ Schaer, Sidney C. (March 14, 1989). "Morgan Daughter Dies; Last surviving child was 92". Newsday. Archived from the original on July 25, 2012. Retrieved October 30, 2009.
Mrs. Pennoyer, the mother of six, a grandmother of 28 and a great-grandmother of 31, lived in the English-Norman styled home on an estate called "Round Bush" in Locust Valley. Born into a family whose name was synonymous with international banking, immense wealth and philanthropy, she nevertheless lived a private life...
- ^ "Paul C. Pennoyer, 80, Lawyer. Active in Various Fields, Dies" (PDF). The New York Times. July 1, 1971. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
- ^ Leduff, Charlie (February 10, 1999). "Faded Glory on the Gold Coast; Glen Cove, Relic of the Gilded Age, Plans a Comeback". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
- ^ "At Age 94, J.P. Morgan's Grandson Reflects on World War II and Patterson Belknap". www.law.com. New York Law Journal. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ a b "Robert Pennoyer '43". www.sps.edu. St. Paul's School. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Robert M. Pennoyer, 1925-2023". www.pbwt.com. Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP. August 15, 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ Primus VI (9 August 2016). "Soldiers, When Young". Harvard Magazine. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
- ^ "Biography | Robert M. Pennoyer". www.pbwt.com. Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
- ^ Burnham, Sophy (8 December 1969). "The Manhattan Arrangement of Art and Money". New York. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
- ^ Pennoyer, Robert M. (13 October 2015). As It Was: A Memoir. Easton Studio Press, LLC. ISBN 978-1-63226-046-8. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ "VICTORIA PARSONS MARRIED IN ORANGE; Bride of Robert M. Pennoyer, Grandson of Late J. P. Morgan: Bishop Poweil Officiates" (PDF). The New York Times. June 13, 1948. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
- ^ "PENNOYER, VICTORIA PARSONS". The New York Times. October 3, 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
- ^ "J. RUSSELL PARSONS". The New York Times. June 10, 1970. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ a b "Miss Ridder, Editor, to Wed Peter M. Pennoyer, Architect". The New York Times. June 12, 1988. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
- ^ "Russell P. Pennoyer". www.gilderlehrman.org. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ "Helen Elliot Bearn Fiancee". The New York Times. June 18, 1978. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ "Christina Pennoyer Married". The New York Times. January 31, 1982. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ "Welcome to the Worldwide Greathead family my One-Name Study - Person Page". www.greathead.org. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ "Miss Pennoyer Becomes Bride Of Peter Lowe". The New York Times. June 10, 1979. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ "Dr. Pennoyer, a Psychologist, Is Wed To John W. Auchincloss 2d, a Lawyer". The New York Times. April 10, 1988. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
- ^ "Emily Auchincloss, Zachary Fuchs". The New York Times. July 2, 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ "Katie Ridder, Editor, Is Wed". The New York Times. September 25, 1988. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
- ^ "ROBERT PENNOYER Obituary (1925 - 2023)". Legacy.com. The New York Times. Retrieved 19 November 2024.