Otto T. Bannard

Otto Tremont Bannard was born on April 28, 1854, in Brooklyn, New York. He was the youngest of five children born to John Winslow Bannard (1822–1911) and his wife Eliza Landon Stone (1821–1903). Among his siblings were Henry Clay Bannard, Hubbard Francis Bannard, Walter Clifton Bannard, and Estella Stone Bannard. John purchased a small flour mill there, but ten years later the mill burned, leaving the family nearly penniless. Otto's mother began writing poems, essays, and short stories under the pen name "Lizzie" to supplement the family's income. 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. ==Career==

Bannard entered the banking profession, becoming the president of the Continental Trust Company in 1893. In 1904, Continental Trust merged with the New York Security and Trust Company and Bannard became president of the new firm, which took the name of the New York Trust Company in 1905. Charles S. Fairchild, the president of New York Security and Trust (who formerly was the Attorney General of New York and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury) became chairman of New York Trust. 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. Philanthropy In 1927 he was national chairman of a campaign that raised $21,000,000 for the endowment of Yale University. He served as a member of the Yale Corporation for eighteen years. ==Personal life==

Bannard, who never married, died on January 15, 1929, at sea on the SS President Cleveland en route from Seattle to Manila in the Philippines, a journey he was making for the sake of his health. His will left a bequest of about $2,000,000 to Yale University, in addition to the numerous gifts he had made during his lifetime. ==References==