Edward H. H. Simmons

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For other people with the same name, see Edward Simmons.
E. Henry H. Simmons
Simmons c. 1938
President of the New York Stock Exchange
In office
1924–1930
Preceded bySeymour L. Cromwell
Succeeded byRichard Whitney
Personal details
Born
Edward Henry Harriman Simmons

(1876-08-21)August 21, 1876
Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedMay 21, 1955(1955-05-21) (aged 78)
New York City, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Caroline G. Comstock
​
​
(m. 1901; died 1920)​

Beatrice Vanderpoel Bogert
​
​
(m. 1929; died 1942)​
RelationsE. H. Harriman (uncle)
W. Averell Harriman (cousin)
Joseph Harriman (cousin)
EducationColumbia University

Edward Henry Harriman Simmons (August 21, 1876 – May 21, 1955) was an American banker and author who served as president of the New York Stock Exchange.

Early life[edit]

Simmons was born in Jersey City, New Jersey on August 21, 1876.[1] He was a son of Charles Dewar Simmons (1847–1926) and Cornelia "Lilly" Neilson (née Harriman) Simmons. Among his siblings was Harriman Neilson Simmons, Charles Dewar Simmons Jr., Mary Elizabeth (née Simmons) Goff, and Cornelia Neilson (née Simmons) King.[1]

His paternal grandparents were Thomas Corbett Simmons and Mary Elizabeth Simmons and his maternal grandparents were Orlando Harriman and Cornelia (née Neilson) Harriman.[2] His maternal uncle, and namesake, was railroad executive Edward Henry Harriman, and his maternal aunt, Annie Ingland Harriman, was married to James Fleming Van Rensselaer.[3] Among his cousins were diplomat and future New York Governor W. Averell Harriman and bankers Oliver Harriman Jr., and E. Roland Harriman.[2]

After attending the Stevens School in Hoboken followed by the Drisler School, Simmons trained as a doctor at Columbia University, graduating in 1898.[1]

Career[edit]

Shortly after Columbia, he decided to give up medicine for a career in finance. Not long thereafter, he set up his own brokerage business and became a director of the Harriman National Bank,[4] of which another cousin, Joseph Wright Harriman, was president.[5]

In 1900, Simmons became a member of the New York Stock Exchange and, beginning in 1909, a member of the governing committee. From 1921 through 1924, he served as vice-president of the Exchange, followed by a six-year term as president beginning in 1924 (when he was a member of the firm of Rutter & Gross at 52 Broadway).[6] Throughout his tenure, he was a vocal opponent of stock frauds, utilizing the facilities of the Exchange to aid members "in connection with the nation-wide campaign to eliminate bucket shops, unscrupulous stock promoters and other schemes which result in the American investing public being swindled out of millions."[7] In 1928, he spearheaded efforts to form "an international campaign against security swindlers and fraudulent promoters, with the leading fraud-fighting agencies of the United States and in cooperation with those of the nations of Europe."[8] Reportedly:

"The spiteful said that Simmons would really have preferred canonization, election to the papacy, or the role of lord mayor of London; that he had accepted only as a poor alternative the most important electoral office in the financial world. His few friends said that he was born for his exalted and unsalaried post. For them he epitomized the puritanism of those twenty-four brokers who in May 1792 gathered under a buttonwood tree and drew up a written agreement to deal only with each other on a common commission basis, so forming the Exchange Simmons now presided over."[4]

A prominent speaker and writer, in 1925, he delivered a speech before the annual convention of Investment Bankers of America in St. Petersburg, Florida entitled The Stock Exchange and American Banking.[9] Also in 1925, he wrote Modern Capitalism: And Other Addresses,[10] followed by New York, Metropolis and Capital Market in 1927,[11] Safeguarding the Nation's Capital in 1928,[12] and Speculation in Securities in 1929.[13] In January 1930, he delivered an address entitled: The Principal Causes of the Stock Market Crisis Of 1929 at the thirty first annual dinner of the Transportation Club at the Pennsylvania Railroad in Philadelphia.[14][15]

Upon his retirement from the presidency in 1930 after six years in office,[16][17] he was succeeded by Richard Whitney.[18] In May 1935, Simmons became vice-president of the Exchange at the suggestion of Charles R. Gay, Whitney's successor as president of the Exchange.[19] Whitney, however, was later convicted of embezzlement and imprisoned and Simmons had to testify multiple times in 1938 before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,[20] regarding Whitney and the Richard Whitney & Co. insolvency.[21]

Personal life[edit]

Simmons was twice married. He married his first wife Caroline G. Comstock (c. 1879–1920),[22] a daughter of Clarence M. Comstock, in 1901.[23] In New York City, they lived at 570 Park Avenue and had a summer home on Sicomac Road in Franklin Township, New Jersey (now Franklin Lakes).[24] Together, they were the parents of:

After the death of his first wife in 1920 from an "overdose of a drug taken to induce sleep,"[24] he remarried to the former Beatrice Vanderpoel Bogert (1881–1942) at the Park Avenue Presbyterian Church on October 4, 1929, just twenty days before the Wall Street Crash of 1929.[4] After a two-month honeymoon to Hawaii, they lived at his home at 812 Park Avenue on Manhattan's Upper East Side.[4] Beatrice, a divorcee who was the daughter of Eugene Thurston Bogert and Anna (née Vanderpoel) Bogert, had been previously married to lawyer William Bayard Blackwell II (with whom she had William Bayard Blackwell III).[29] Beatrice left her husband for his friend John Mayer Jr., a grandson of Theodore Havemeyer,[30] prompting a $200,000 lawsuit from Blackwell for the "alleged alienation of affections of Mrs. Beatrice Bogert Blackwell" in 1914.[31] Beatrice and John married in September 1915,[32] but later divorced in Reno in April 1929 before she married Simmons in 1929.[4]

His second wife died at their home, 812 Park Avenue, in June 1942,[33] and Simmons died on May 21, 1955.[1]

Descendants[edit]

Through his daughter Cornelia, he was a grandfather of Arthur Comstock Romaine, a Harvard University graduate who married Dorothy Stevens in 1964.[34] Romaine, president of Webster Management, a Kidder, Peabody & Co., later married Deborah Vaughan in 1982.[35]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "HENRY SIMMONS, HEADED EXCHANGE; President of Stock Group 1924-30 Dies--Served on Governing Unit 30 Years" (PDF). The New York Times. 22 May 1955. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  2. ^ a b Powers, Barnard (1918). "The Two Dollar Broker Who Became a Railroad Emperor: E. H. Harriman's Extraordinary Career--Fifty Years Old Before He Began His Great Success--Otto Kahn's Estimate of Harriman". The Magazine of Wall Street and Business Analyst. Colonial Communications Corporation: 313. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  3. ^ Americana: (American Historical Magazine). American Historical Company, Incorporated. 1907. p. 202. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e Thomas, Gordon; Morgan-Witts, Max (2014). The Day the Bubble Burst: A Social History of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Open Road Media. pp. 336–337. ISBN 978-1-4976-5877-6. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  5. ^ "J. W. Harriman, 82, Former Bank head. Founder of Local Institution That Failed in 1933. Dies in Sea Cliff Sanitarium". The New York Times. January 24, 1949. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  6. ^ "Cromwell to Retire as Exchange Head; Simmons, Vice President, to Succeed Him" (PDF). The New York Times. 11 January 1924. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  7. ^ "EXTENDS CAMPAIGN ON STOCK FRAUDS; New York Exchange Offers Its Facilities to All Seeking Information. STATE AGENCIES PRAISED E.H.H. Simmons Says Officials Have Given the Most Effective Cooperation" (PDF). The New York Times. 9 February 1925. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  8. ^ "WORLD-WIDE FIGHT ON SWINDLING BEGUN; Simmons Calls for Renewed Battle on Frauds by Every Member of Exchange. EUROPEAN NATIONS TO AID President Says Efforts Here Have Forced Many Operators to Flee This Country" (PDF). The New York Times. 17 May 1928. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  9. ^ Simmons, Edward Henry Harriman (1925). The Stock Exchange and American Banking: Address Delivered Before the Annual Convention of Investment Bankers of America at St. Petersburg, Florida, December 9, 1925. New York Stock Exchange. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  10. ^ Simmons, Edward Henry Harriman (1925). Modern Capitalism: And Other Addresses. Commonwealth Club of California. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  11. ^ Simmons, Edward Henry Harriman (1927). New York, Metropolis and Capital Market. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  12. ^ Simmons, Edward Henry Harriman (1928). Safeguarding the Nation's Capital. New York Stock Exchange. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  13. ^ Simmons, Edward Henry Harriman (1929). Speculation in Securities. New York Stock Exchange. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  14. ^ Simmons, Edward Henry Harriman (1929). The Principal Causes of the Stock Market Crisis Of 1929. Literary Licensing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-258-00489-7. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  15. ^ Bulletin of the New York Public Library. New York Public Library. 1933. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  16. ^ "SIMMONS NOMINATED FOR HIS FIFTH TERM; Stock Exchange President Will Be Re-elected May 14, According to Plan--2 Changes in Governors" (PDF). The New York Times. 10 April 1928. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  17. ^ "SIMMONS AGAIN HEAD OF STOCK EXCHANGE; Warren B. Nash, Treasurer, Also Re-elected--New Members on Governing Committee" (PDF). The New York Times. 15 May 1928. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  18. ^ Galbraith, John Kenneth (2009). The Great Crash 1929. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-547-24816-5. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  19. ^ "SIMMONS REMAINS IN EXCHANGE POST; Governing Committee at Special Meeting Gives Him 2d Term as Vice President. FINAL FIGURES ON VOTING Whitney Led the Ticket With 1,088 of Total of 1,099 Ballots -- 1,087 Received by Gay" (PDF). The New York Times. 13 May 1936. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  20. ^ "UNTERMYER APPEALS FOR PROXY REFORMS; Asks Stock Exchange to Insist That Share Owners Give Written Voting Consent" (PDF). The New York Times. 30 May 1927. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  21. ^ United States Securities and Exchange Commission (1938). United States of America Before the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Matter of Richard Whitney, Edwin D. Morgan, Jr., F. Kingsley Rodewald, Henry D. Mygatt, Daniel G. Condon, John J. McManus, and Estate of John A. Hayes, Individually and as Partners Doing Business as Richard Whitney & Company: Pursuant to Section 21 (a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ... U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 901–925. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  22. ^ "DIES OF VERONAL OVERDOSE.; Wife of E. Henry Simmons, Stock Broker, Sought to Induce Sleep" (PDF). The New York Times. 19 June 1920. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  23. ^ a b "THRONG AT WEDDING OF MISS SIMMONS; Daughter of President of New York Stock Exchange Weds Theodore C. Romaine IN ST. BARTHOLOWEW'S Rev. Dr. Robert Norwood Officiates at Ceremony--Large Reception Held at Sherry's" (PDF). The New York Times. 20 January 1928. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  24. ^ a b "MRS. CAROLINE C. SIMMONS". New-York Tribune. 19 June 1920. p. 4. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  25. ^ "Sheldon Coleman, Ex‐Captain in Navy". The New York Times. 7 June 1964. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  26. ^ "Coleman--Simmons" (PDF). The New York Times. 7 April 1923. p. 13. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  27. ^ "CORNELIA SIMMONS ENGAGED TO MARRY; Daughter of President of New York Stock Exchange to Wed Theodore C. Romaine" (PDF). The New York Times. 5 March 1927. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  28. ^ "CORNELIA N. SIMMONS TO MARRY ON JAN. 19; Attendants for Her Marriage to T.C. Romaine in St. Bartholomew's -- Other Fugure Nuptials" (PDF). The New York Times. 31 December 1927. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  29. ^ Bergen, Tunis Garret (1915). Genealogies of the State of New York: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 1220. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  30. ^ "MRS. BLACKWELL IN IDAHO.; John Mayer, Jr., Defendant in Alienation Suit, Also is There" (PDF). The New York Times. 5 April 1915. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  31. ^ "SAYS RICH FRIEND STOLE WIFE'S LOVE; W.B. Blackwell, Union Club Member, Sues John Mayer, Jr., for $200,000. PROMINENT IN MORRISTOWN Complainant's Wife Living at the Ritz ;- Defendant Is a Nephew of H.O. Havemeyer" (PDF). The New York Times. 17 November 1914. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  32. ^ "J. A. MAYER WEDS MRS. BLACKWELL Marriage in Butte End of Romance Started by Suit on Alienation Charge". New-York Tribune. 25 September 1915. p. 1. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  33. ^ "MRS. E. HENRY H. SIMMONS; Wife of Exchange Ex-Head -- Gave Blackwell Cup to Princeton" (PDF). The New York Times. 21 June 1942. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  34. ^ "Dorothy Stevens To Be Married; Nuptials in Fall; '57 Debutante Fiancee of Arthur Romaine, a Harvard Graduate" (PDF). The New York Times. 24 May 1964. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  35. ^ "Deborah Vaughan Wed To Arthur C. Romaine". The New York Times. 19 December 1982. Retrieved 3 December 2019.

External links[edit]

Business positions
Preceded by President of the
New York Stock Exchange
1924 – 1930 		Succeeded by
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