Anthony N. Brady

Anthony Nicholas Brady (August 22, 1841 – July 22, 1913) was an American businessman who amassed great wealth and at one time was the largest shareholder in the American Tobacco Company. Early life Anthony Nicholas Brady was born on August 22, 1841, in Lille, France. Brady, whose family was Irish, emigrated to Troy, New York, in 1857. Career At nearly age 16, he first began working at the Delevan Hotel in Albany, New York, and by age 19, he went into business for himself, opening a tea store that he soon expanded with other outlets, "practically controll[ing] the trade in that city and in Troy". He went on to become a politically astute transportation magnate, who used his genius at consolidation to acquire control of Brooklyn Rapid Transit as well as the Albany Gas Light Company. Later he was a dominant figure in the transportation systems of several American cities including Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., plus that of Paris. Brady would acquire significant investments in a substantial number of companies and was the largest shareholder and a director of American Tobacco Company by 1900, and successor companies (Consolidated Tobacco Company) in subsequent years. Brady partnered with leading East Coast business tycoons such as Thomas Edison, William C. Whitney, P. A. B. Widener and Thomas F. Ryan in various business ventures including the Electric Vehicle Co., initially a motorized taxicab business that evolved into Maxwell Automobile Co. By 1907, he was a member of the Consolidated Stock Exchange of New York, one of around 1,300.