On May 23rd, 1843 Lorillard died at the age of 78, outliving his brothers George and Jacob. He was buried at the
New York Marble Cemetery. A newspaper reporter writing his obituary tried to describe an extremely wealthy American and used the relatively new word,
"millionaire". While the word "millionaire" had been in use in the United Kingdom since at least 1816, apparently it was used for the first time in the United States in 1843 when it was used to describe Lorillard, although he was not the first American to own one million dollars' worth of property. While he was one of the wealthiest men in America, he was not the richest at the time, that being
John Jacob Astor. Lorillard just happened to have been the first to be called a
millionaire in newspapers.
Cleveland Amory incorrectly reports that it was in Lorillard's 1843 obituary that the first use of the word
"millionaire" appeared in print anywhere.
Philip Hone, one-time mayor of New York, wrote about Lorillard in his famous diary,
Descendants Through his eldest daughter Maria, he was the grandfather of Mary, Margaret and Dorothea Ann Ronalds, none of whom married; Catherine Ronalds (1820–1885), who married
Assistant Secretary of State John Addison Thomas (1811–1858), Eleanora Lorillard Ronalds (1825–1879), who married
U.S. Representative Frederick A. Conkling (1816–1891) (brother of
U.S. Senator Roscoe Conkling), Julia Ronalds, who died young, Thomas Alexander Ronalds (d. 1872), who married Adeline Freeman (b. 1824) (daughter of Dr. Freeman), Peter Lorillard Ronalds (1826–1905), who married
Mary Frances Carter (1839–1916), and George Lorillard Ronalds (1833–1875), who married Pauline Antoinette Witthaus, Through his daughter Dorothea, he was the grandfather of Mary Lorillard Wolfe (1823–1847), who was married to William Bayard Hoffman (d. 1880) before her early death, David Lorillard Wolfe (1825–1829), who died young, and
Catharine Lorillard Wolfe (1828–1887), the philanthropist and art collector who gave large amounts of money to institutions such as
Grace Episcopal Church and
Union College, and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. who was married to Sarah Johnson Griswold (1827–1905). They were the parents of Eleanor Spencer (b. 1851), who married Don Virginius Cenci, 6th Prince of Vicovaro (b. 1840), in 1870, and Lorillard Spencer (1860–1912), who was married to
Caroline Berryman Spencer (1861–1948), and were the parents of
Lorillard Spencer (1883–1939), who was president of
Atlantic Aircraft and was married to
Katherine Emmons Force (1891–1956), both of whom were prominent in
Newport, Rhode Island, society. ==References==