Frank Arthur Vanderlip

Frank Arthur Vanderlip Sr. (November 17, 1864 – June 30, 1937) was an American banker and journalist. He was president of the National City Bank of New York (now Citibank) from 1909 to 1919, and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 1897 to 1901. Vanderlip is known for his part in founding the Federal Reserve System and for founding the first Montessori school in the United States, the Scarborough School and the group of communities in Palos Verdes, California. Born in rural Illinois, Vanderlip worked in farms and factories until beginning a career in journalism in 1885. His efforts in financial journalism led him to become Assistant Secretary of the Treasury until the National City Bank hired him. While president of the bank, Vanderlip worked with the Jekyll Island group to develop a federal reserve; Vanderlip's later proposals also influenced the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913. His later life was focused towards developing Palos Verdes and creating the Scarborough School at his estate, Beechwood, in Briarcliff Manor, New York, as well as gentrifying the hamlet of Sparta, Ossining nearby. In addition, he helped found and was the first president of Sleepy Hollow Country Club. Vanderlip died in 1937 in New York Hospital, after weeks of treatment there. Early life Frank Vanderlip was born on November 17, 1864, in Aurora, Illinois. Vanderlip was one of several children of Charles Edmond and Charlotte Louise Woodworth Vanderlip. His early life was spent on his family's farm in nearby Oswego, Illinois until his father died in 1878. After his death, Vanderlip, his mother, and his sister moved to Aurora, where he went to work at a lathe in a factory, at the age of 16. After one year at the University of Illinois and another job at the factory lathe, Vanderlip became city editor of the local newspaper, the Aurora Evening Post in 1885. Career Under the guidance of economist Joseph French Johnson, Vanderlip took a position at a financial investigative service for stock investors in Chicago in 1886. Three years later, in 1889, he became a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, and was promoted to financial editor in 1892. While working for the newspaper, Vanderlip took an extension course in political economy at the newly founded University of Chicago. This brought him to the attention of Lyman J. Gage, who became Secretary of the Treasury under President William McKinley in 1897.