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Clendenin J. Ryan
Born
Clendenin James Ryan Jr.

(1905-07-16)July 16, 1905
New York City, US
DiedSeptember 12, 1957(1957-09-12) (aged 52)
New York City, US
Alma materPrinceton University
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1935; div. 1935)​
Jean Harder
​
(m. 1937)​
Children5
RelativesThomas Fortune Ryan (grandfather)
Ida Mary Barry Ryan (grandmother)

Clendenin James Ryan Jr. (July 16, 1905 – September 12, 1957)[1] was an American businessman best known as the publisher and owner of The American Mercury magazine, published in Baltimore, Maryland in the early 1950s.

Early life

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He was the eldest son of Clendenin James Ryan and Caroline S. (née O'Neil) Ryan. His brothers were George Francis Ryan, Richard Nelson Ryan and his sister was Caroline Clendenin Ryan (who was engaged to Ronald Lambert Basset,[2][a] before marrying John K. Shaw Jr.[4][5] Stuart K. Hotchkiss, and Calvin Pardee Foulke).[6] His father committed suicide by gas poisoning on August 21, 1939.[7]

His maternal grandfather was George Francis O'Neil and his paternal grandparents were Thomas Fortune Ryan and Ida Mary (née Barry) Ryan (a daughter of John Smith Barry, a prosperous dry goods merchant who mentored his grandfather).[8] In 1922, his uncle, banker Allan A. Ryan, declared bankruptcy with liabilities of $32,435,477.28 and assets of $643,533 in what was described as "the biggest failure in New York in recent years, and one of the biggest on record."[9] Through Allan, he was a first cousin of New York State Senator Allan A. Ryan Jr.[10] Upon the death of his grandfather in 1928, he inherited a part of the fortune of more than $141,000,000 left in trust.[11]

Ryan attended St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island before attending Princeton University, where he graduated with the class of 1928.[11]

Career

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Ryan once served as an assistant to Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia of New York City, ran for New York mayor himself on an independent ticket and later campaigned for New Jersey Governor. Ryan served in the United States Navy during World War II under Admiral James Forrestal.[1]

He and Godfrey Stillman Rockefeller were stockholders in the Enterprise Development Corporation, a closed end investment trust for the heirs of William Rockefeller and Thomas Fortune Ryan, Clendenin's entrepreneurial grandfather, who invested heavily in Copper Mining and ore smelting. The Directors of EDC included Ryan, Frederic W. Lincoln IV, who married into the Rockefeller family, and Morehead Patterson of American Machine and Foundry (AMF).[1]

Newspaper career

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In May 1949, Ryan began publishing a weekly newspaper known as The Public Guardian. Just one month later in June 1949, after withdrawing from the New York City mayoral campaign against incumbent mayor William O'Dwyer, he announced that he would cease publication of the newspaper.[12]

In 1950, Ryan headed a group that purchased The American Mercury magazine, published in Baltimore, Maryland, from Lawrence Spivak which Ryan renamed The New American Mercury.[13][14]

Personal life

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In 1935, Ryan was introduced to Countess Maria Anna Paula Ferdinandine von Wurmbrand-Stuppach (1914–2003), known as Etti, by Prince Chlodwig Hohenlohe. By their third date, Ryan proposed to her and they were married on February 20, 1935, in Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia was best man. The marriage only lasted three months; they divorced in July 1935 and she returned to Europe with "a settlement of only $35,000."[15]

In 1937, he married Jean Harder (1915–1991), a daughter of George Achilles Harder Sr., a Titanic survivor and, his first wife, Dorothy (née Annan) Harder.[11] Jean, whose younger half-brother was actor James Harder, attended the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Connecticut and at the time of their marriage, served on the staff of the Civic Information Bureau. At the time of their wedding, he was living at 834 Fifth Avenue. Together, they were the parents of:

  • Clendenin James Ryan III (1939–1978),[16][17] who married Ann Johnson, a daughter of Thomas Johnson, in 1961[18]
  • Robert Harder Ryan,[19] who married Shelley Ann Beck in 1981[20]
  • Cyr Annan Ryan, president of Fiber Optic Systems, Inc. who married Mary Frances O'Hara in 1974[21]
  • Caryn Ryan, who married Roger Wolcott Tuckerman in 1960;[22][23] they later divorced[24]
  • Jean Ryan Sadler[19]

In 1949, he purchased The Cliffs, a forty-three-acre estate in Oyster Bay held by the Beekman family for more than a century.[25] The property was "on the West Bay Harbor, overlooking Oyster Bay Harbor," and included "a main residence with seventeen rooms, superintendent's cottage, barns, a storage house and boathouse" and fronted "2,000 feet on the harbor" and had "a bathing beach and deep-water anchorage for yachts."[25] After his death, his 2,000 acre estate in Allamuchy, New Jersey was sold to Robert Conahay III.[26]

Ryan committed suicide at the age of 52 in 1957 "in the same five-story, gray stone town house at 32 East Seventieth Street where his father, Clendenin James Ryan Sr., committed suicide by gas poisoning on August 21, 1939."[1][27] After a funeral at St. Jean Baptiste Roman Catholic Church, located on Lexington Avenue at 76th Street, he was buried in the family plot at St. Andrew-on-Hudson in Poughkeepsie, New York.[28] His net estate was valued at $689,686 in 1961.[29] In 1969, his widow married William Shields Jr., a senior partner in the Coudert Brothers law firm.[19]

References

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Notes

  1. ^ Basset later married Lady Elizbaeth Legge, a daughter of the 7th Earl of Dartmouth in 1931.[3]

Sources

  1. ^ a b c d Kihss, Peter (13 September 1957). "Clendenin Ryan Commits Suicide – Grandson of Financier Used Wealth to Combat Crime – Shoots Himself at Home". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  2. ^ "Miss Caroline Ryan to Wed R.L. Basset – Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clendenin J. Ryan Is Betrothed to Resident of London – She is a Debutante of 1928 – Her Fiance Served With the Eton Brigade in France During the World War". The New York Times. 4 August 1930. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  3. ^ "Lady Elizabeth Basset". The Telegraph. 5 December 2000. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Miss Caroline Ryan To Be Wed June 2 – Marriage to John Knox Shaw Jr., Member of Baltimore Family, Will Take Place Here – Stewart Jr. Best Man – Bride to Be Attended by Mrs. Rodman Wanamaker Jr., Misses Elizabeth Wickes and Elizabeth Clark". The New York Times. 16 May 1932. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  5. ^ "Wedding at Home for Caroline Ryan – Ceremony for Her and John Knox Shaw Jr. Performed by Rev. Thomas Delihant – Bride's Veil an Heirloom – Attendants Are Mrs. Rodman Wanamaker Jr. and Misses Elizabeth Wickes and Elizabeth Clark". The New York Times. 3 June 1932. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Mrs. Hotchkiss Is Wed – Former Caroline Ryan the Bride of Calvin Pardee Fouike". The New York Times. 5 March 1948. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  7. ^ "Clendenin Ryan Sr. Ends Life by Gas – Favorite Son of Financier, 57 Found Dead in His Library, With Head in Fireplace – Depressed By Ill Health –Managed His Father's Huge Estate, Living in Seclusion – 3 Felled Moving Body –Servants Chop Door Down – Despondent Over Illness – Estate Grew After Crash". The New York Times. August 22, 1939. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Thomas Fortune Ryan". The New York Times. 24 November 1928. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  9. ^ "Allan A> Ryan Fails; Debts $32,435,477, $27,806,984 Secured – Stutz Corner Started War Which Made Thomas Fortune Ryan's Son a Bankrupt – Crash a Personal Affair – Broker Gives His Assets as $643,533 – Ryan Companies Are Not Involved – Owes Schwab and du Pont – Samuel Untermyer Listed as a Creditor for $45,000 and Mrs. Ryan for $2,860,669.39". The New York Times. 22 July 1922. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  10. ^ "Ryan Left Estate Put at $14,000,000". The New York Times. 27 September 1957. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  11. ^ a b c "C.J. Ryan Jr. to Wed Miss Jean Harder – Bridegroom-Elect, Secretary to Mayor, Is Grandson of Late Thomas Fortune Ryan". The New York Times. 11 November 1937. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  12. ^ "Clendenin Ryan Out of Mayoralty Fight". The New York Times. 9 June 1949. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  13. ^ "American Mercury Sold – Clendenin Ryan Heads Group That Acquires Magazine". The New York Times. 10 August 1950. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  14. ^ December 8, 1952 Time magazine article titled Trouble for the Mercury
  15. ^ "Marriage for Love". The San Francisco Examiner. 27 March 1949. p. 94. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  16. ^ "Son to Clendenin J. Ryans". The New York Times. 8 October 1939. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  17. ^ "Clendenin J. Ryan, 39, Executive In Jersey Banking and Insurance". The New York Times. 28 November 1978. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  18. ^ "Wedding Is Held For Ann Johnson And C. J. Ryan Jr.; St. Sebastian's Church in Providence, R. I., Is Scene of Marriage". The New York Times. 18 June 1961. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  19. ^ a b c "Jean Harder Ryan Shields, Volunteer, 76". The New York Times. 23 May 1991. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  20. ^ "Robert Harder Ryan Fiance of Shelley Beck". The New York Times. 5 April 1981. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  21. ^ "Cyr A. Ryan Is Fiance Of Miss Mary O'Hara". The New York Times. 20 January 1974. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  22. ^ "Soldier Fiance Of Caryn Ryan, Porter Alumna; I Roger Tuckerman to Wed Daughter of Late Official of City". The New York Times. 31 December 1959. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  23. ^ "Roger Tuckerman Weds Caryn Ryan: 28 Attend Couple at St. Jean Baptiste Church Here". The New York Times. 8 May 1960. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  24. ^ "Edith D. Fenton, R.W. Tuckerman Engaged to Wed". The New York Times. 31 March 1970. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  25. ^ a b "Clendenin Ryan Buys Estate at Oyster Bay". The New York Times. 12 May 1949. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  26. ^ "C. J. Ryan Ranch Sold – Conahay Buys 2,000-Acre Estate in New Jersey". The New York Times. 11 June 1959. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  27. ^ "Suicide of Ryan Is Linked to War – Psychiatrist Says Tendency Toward Depression Began With Illnesses in Navy" (PDF). The New York Times. September 14, 1957.
  28. ^ "350 Attend a Mass for Clendenin Ryan". The New York Times. 15 September 1957. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  29. ^ "Ryan Estate Settled – Grandson of Financier Left a Net of $689,686". The New York Times. 7 July 1961. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
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