Gates W. McGarrah

Gates White McGarrah II (July 20, 1863 – November 5, 1940)[1] was a prominent American banker who served as the first president of the Bank for International Settlements.

Gates W. McGarrah
President of the Bank for International Settlements
In office
April 1930 – May 1933
General ManagerPierre Quesnay
Preceded byInaugural holder
Succeeded byLeon Fraser
Personal details
Born
Gates White McGarrah

(1863-07-20)July 20, 1863
Monroe, New York, U.S.
DiedNovember 5, 1940(1940-11-05) (aged 77)
New York City, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
Elizabeth Wallace
​
(
m. 1886; his death 1940)
RelationsRichard Helms (grandson)
Children2
OccupationBanker

Early life

McGarrah was born on July 20, 1863 in Monroe in Orange County, New York. He was a son of Theodore McGarrah (1835–1907), a country storekeeper, and Mary Abbott (née Pearsall) McGarrah (1834–1917).[2] Among his siblings was younger brother Eugene McGarrah, and younger sister Ella McGarrah.[3] His paternal grandparents were Gates White McGarrah (the son of New York Assemblyman John McGarrah) and Mary Ann (née VanDuzer) McGarrah.[4] His maternal grandfather was Rowland Pearsall.[5]

He attended grade and high schools in Orange County.[1]

Career

At age eighteen, McGarrah moved to nearby Goshen, New York where he was employed by the Goshen National Bank beginning in 1881. In 1883, he began his first job in New York was as a check clerk in the Produce Exchange Bank. In 1892, he was made assistant cashier of the Bank.[1] Later in his career he was known as one of the "Country Boys as City Bankers."[6]

In 1898, he became cashier of the Leather Manufacturers National Bank, before becoming its president in 1902. The Bank merged with the Mechanic's National Bank in 1904 and McGarrah was chosen to be president of the merged bank. While he ran Mechanic, it acquired the Fourth National Bank, the National Copper Bank, and the Produce Exchange Bank before it merged with Chase National Bank in 1926. After the 1926 merger, he became chairman of the executive committee of the Chase Bank.[1]

In 1903, McGarrah, along with the American Bankers Association, was one of the founders of the American Institute of Banking which provided professional education via examinations and certificates. During the Panic of 1907, he was a member of the New York Clearing House Association, later serving as its president. In 1918, as head of the Mechanics and Metals Bank, he was aligned with William P. G. Harding, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, in his fear of "unsettlement as result of general adoption of higher rates on deposits."[7] On August 30, 1924, he was appointed as the American director of the general council of the Reichsbank,[8][9] the central bank of Germany from 1876 until 1945.[lower-alpha 1] McGarrah was quoted as saying:

"There is no wizardry in finance. The only foundation for success is patience, hard work and good friends."[1]

From 1923 to 1926, McGarrah, a Republican, served as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.[10] In 1927, he was appointed by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington as Federal Reserve agent and chairman of the board in New York. He also served as a director of the Astor Trust Company, the Bankers Trust Company and the Mercantile Trust Company.[1] He was a member of the board of directors of the Astor Foundation, which owned Newsweek.[11]

In April 1930, McGarrah became the first president and chairman of the board of the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland,[12] established to "clear German reparations and interallied debts and to develop new facilities for international baking."[lower-alpha 2] He was nominated to represent the American banking system on the "directorate of the world bank" by a group of private bankers (including J.P. Morgan & Co., the First National Bank of New York, and the First National Bank of Chicago) after "the State Department of the United States had refused to allow the Federal Reserve to participate formally in the world bank."[1] He served as president,[14] with a staff representing ten nationalities and speaking four languages, that operated twenty-four currencies and had investments from Tokyo to Rome and Helsinki,[1] until his retirement in 1933.[15]

Personal life

On October 6, 1886, McGarrah was married to Elizabeth Wallace (1863–1951) in Goshen. Elizabeth was the daughter of John Wallace and Mary (née Strong) Wallace.[16] Together, they lived in New York City and Woods Hole, Massachusetts (where they had a summer home), and were the parents of:[1]

  • Marion Lavinia McGarrah (1889-1975),[17] who married Herman Henry Helms, an Alcoa executive,[18] and the son of "Herr and Frau Dietrich Helms of Sudwalder bei Bassum, Germany."[19]
  • Helen McGarrah (1904–1984), who married Jabez Curry Watson Jr. (1901–1944).[20] After his death, she married Murray Paton Fleming, a former wing commander in the Royal Canadian Air Force, in 1946.[21]

He was a member of the Metropolitan Club, the Riding Club, the City Club, the Down Town Club, the Midday Club, the Brook Club, the Bankers Club, the Tuxedo Club, the Links Club, the Recess Club, the Orange County Club, the New York Yacht Club, the Racquet and Tennis Club, and Union League Club in New York, serving as its president for some time.[22] Peruvian artist Carlos Baca-Flor painted a portrait of McGarrah, as did A. S. Nowell.[23] For a time, the McGarrah's lived in a large mansion at 740 Madison Avenue and East 64th Street owned by Charles Jefferson Harrah and altered by architect Mantle Fielding.[24] He later lived at 635 Park Avenue.[1]

McGarrah died at the Doctors Hospital in Manhattan on November 5, 1940.[1] After a funeral at the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, he was buried at Slate Hill Cemetery in Goshen. In his 1940 obituary in Time magazine, they called him "Silent Gates" and "Tycoon McGarrah" (from a 1930 story).[25] His widow, who lived at 400 Park Avenue after his death,[21] died at their home in Goshen in October 1951.[26]

Descendants

Thgrough his daughter Marion, he was a grandfather of former Director of Central Intelligence and United States Ambassador to Iran, Richard McGarrah Helms (1913–2002).[27][28] In 1950, Helms published The Gates W. McGarrah Collection of Presidential Autographs, photostats of sixty-eight autograph letters of the presidents from George Washington through Theodore Roosevelt, assembled by McGarrah.[29] Another grandson, World War II naval officer, Gates McGarrah Helms, was married to Mount Holyoke College graduate, Alberta Brantley Loughran, daughter of Roger Hall Loughran.[19]

Through his daughter Helen, he was a grandfather to three boys, Hugh Watson, David Watson and Michael Watson.[20]

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References
Notes
  1. During his time with the Reichsbank, Hjalmar Schacht served as president of the Bank.[8]
  2. The idea for the Bank for International Settlements originated in the United States, and the "individuals involved were international bankers who, despite past differences, 'worked together to establish a world financial order that would incorporate the federal principle of the American central banking system.' Specifically among them were people such as 'Owen D. Young, J. Pierpont Morgan, Thomas W. Lamont, S. Parker Gilbert, Gates W. McGarrah, and Jackson Reynolds, who, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, sought to extend the principle of central bank cooperation to the international sphere.'"[13]
Sources
  1. "GATES W. M'GARRAH, NOTED BANKER, DIES; First President of Bank for International Settlements, Founded After the War EX-HEAD OF RESERVE BANK Began Career as Office Boy-- Had Been Director on Many Boards--Effected Mergers" (PDF). The New York Times. 6 November 1940. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  2. Freeland, Daniel Niles (1898). Chronicles of Monroe in the Olden Time: Town and Village, Orange County, New York. De Vinne Press. p. 114. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  3. TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (11 February 1951). "Miss Ella M'garrah" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  4. Van Deusen, Albert Harrison (1912). Van Deursen family. Frank Allaben Genealogical Company. pp. 336-337. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  5. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women who are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thought of the Present Time. J. T. White & Co. 1943. p. 37. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  6. "Country Boys as City Bankers" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 May 1922. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  7. "M'GARRAH OPPOSES INCREASED INTEREST; Head of Mechanics and Metals Bank in Accord with Gov. Harding's Views. DOUBTS WISDOM OF MOVE Fears Danger of Unsettlement as Result of General Adoption of Higher Rates on Deposits. Explain Rise on Two Grounds. Gates W. McGarrah's Views" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 February 1918. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  8. Times, Wireless To the New York (31 August 1924). "SIGN LONDON ACCORD; DAWES PLAN STARTS; BIG OFFICIALS NAMED; Young Made Transfer Agent and Gates W. McGarrah German Bank Director" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  9. "M'GARRAH READY FOR GERMAN BANK; American Representative Does Not Think It Will Differ Greatly From Other Banks" (PDF). The New York Times. 4 September 1924. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  10. "WARNS OF MENACE OF BLOCS TO BANKS; Gates W. McGarrah Says Federal Reserve System Must Be Free From Politics. SHOULD FAVOR NO CLASS Chairman of the Mechanics and Metals Guest of 500 Bankers at Complimentary Dinner" (PDF). The New York Times. 26 April 1923. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  11. Davis, Deborah (2017). Katharine the Great: Katharine Graham and Her Washington Post Empire. Graymalkin Media. p. 92. ISBN 9781631681578. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  12. "Former functionaries of the BIS Board of Directors". www.bis.org. Bank for International Settlements. 10 November 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  13. Douglas-Bowers, Devon (October 22, 2015). "One Bank to Rule Them All: The Bank for International Settlements". www.hamptoninstitution.org. The Hampton Institute. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  14. Feis, Herbert (28 December 1930). "WORLD BANK, SIX MONTHS OLD. HAS A RECORD OF ACHIEVEMENT; GATES W. McGARRAH: While Handling Germany's Reparations, It Has Widened Its Usefulness in Bolstering Finances Among the Nations" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  15. "G.W. McGarrah Returns" (PDF). The New York Times. 27 September 1933. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  16. "Deaths" (PDF). The New York Times. 9 October 1951. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  17. "Marion L. Helms" (PDF). The New York Times. 19 August 1975. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  18. Onofrio, Jan (1999). Pennsylvania Biographical Dictionary. Somerset Publishers, Inc. p. 545. ISBN 9780403099504. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  19. "VETERAN TO WED MISS LOUGHRAN; Gates Helms, a Graduate of Williams, and Mt. Holyoke Alumna Are Betrothed" (PDF). The New York Times. 23 January 1955. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  20. "CURRY WATSON Manager of a Department of the Corn Products Refining Co" (PDF). The New York Times. 1 July 1944. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  21. "MRS. H. M'G. WATSON WED; Former Helen McGarrah Is the Bride of Murray Fleming" (PDF). The New York Times. 15 September 1946. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  22. "UNION LEAGUE SPLIT ON CLUB ELECTION; " Bankers" and "Commoners" Name Candidates to Nominate the New Officers. ARE TO MEET ON DEC. 9 Gates W. McGarrah Said to Be Favored by 'Bankers' -- Opponents' Candidate Not Revealed" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 November 1926. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  23. "Gates White McGarrah". npg.si.edu. National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  24. Miller, Tom (15 September 2018). "The Gates W. McGarrah Mansion - 740 Madison Avenue". Daytonian in Manhattan. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  25. "INTERNATIONAL: Magnificent McGarrah". Time. 3 February 1930. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  26. "Mrs. Gates W. M'Garrah" (PDF). The New York Times. 8 October 1951. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  27. Madden, Richard L. (1 November 1977). "A Long Career In Intelligence Richard McGarrah Helms" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  28. Marquis, Christopher (24 October 2002). "Richard Helms, Ex-C.I.A. Chief, Dies at 89". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  29. McGarrah, Gates W; Helms, Richard (1950). "The Gates W. McGarrah collection of presidential autographs: belonging to Richard Helms". worldcat.org. Photostated by the Library of Congress. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
Business positions
Preceded by
Inaugural holder		 President of the
Bank for International Settlements
1930–1933		 Succeeded by
Leon Fraser
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