Joseph Peter Grace, Sr.

Joseph Peter Grace, Sr. (June 9, 1872 – July 15, 1950) was an American businessman, polo player, and owner of Thoroughbred horses in the sport of steeplechase racing.

Born at Great Neck, New York, the son of businessman and Mayor of New York City, William Russell Grace. Joseph Grace graduated from Columbia University. In 1908 he married Janet Macdonald, the daughter of Charles B. Macdonald, a major figure in early American golf who built the first 18-hole course in the United States. She died on December 31, 1937 at age fifty-three. .

A polo player, in 1911 Joseph Grace purchased a 198-acre (0.80 km²) estate in the Lakeville district of Long Island from Almeric H. Paget, son-in-law of William Collins Whitney. He would acquire a stable of polo ponies as well as Thoroughbreds used in Point to point steeplechase events.

A devout Roman Catholic, Joseph Grace was a member of the international organization the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a Catholic organization that aids the sick and poor through the establishment of hospitals and clinics around the world. He also served as president of Grace Institute, a charity created in 1897 by his father and his uncle, Michael Grace, that provided tuition-free education and training in business and administrative skills to economically disadvantaged women.

Business life

On the death of William R. Grace in 1904, Edward Eyre, company secretary and director, was appointed president of W. R. Grace and Company. In 1907, Eyre was made company chairman and Joseph Grace became president. In 1929, Joseph Grace took over as chairman when Edward Eyre retired and Joseph's friend from his college days, D. Stewart Iglehart, was appointed president.

The W. R. Grace company's business centered on operations in Peru and surrounding South American countries. To enhance that, in 1914 Joseph Grace established Grace National Bank, a New York City private bank that concentrated on business done in South America. The extent of the W.R. Grace company's trade was such that its founders had formed Grace Shipping Company and in 1929 Joseph Grace concluded a partnership with Pan American World Airways to establish Pan American-Grace Airways, the first air carrier to serve the West Coast of South America.

In 1945, Joseph Grace suffered a debilitating stroke and in 1946 both he and D. Stewart Iglehart retired. His son, Joseph Peter Grace, Jr., took over management of the company. Joseph Grace died in 1950 at his home in Great Neck, New York.

References

• July 15, 1950 New York Times obituary for Joseph P. Grace Sr.