Moguls, Millionaires, Statesmen, Captains of Industry, Financial Giants, Media People, Society Figures, Politicos known about the Somerset Hills Area
From the archives of Inside the Brick Academy -
September 2002
Throughout the year, distinguished residents who live/lived in the Somerset Hills will be listed. Then, as now, the area’s serene beauty and wholesome life style have attracted the rich, famous, and outstanding people.
Bedminster
- Nicholas Brady, U.S. Senator, Secretary of the
Treasury under Presidents Regan and Bush - Zebulon Pike, noted explorer
- John Honeyman, George Washington’s superspy
- Thomas Kean, former Governor of New Jersey,
President of Drew University - Steve Forbes, Publisher of Forbes Magazine
and Chairman of the Board of Radio Free
Europe - D. Douglas Dillon, former Under Secretary of
State, Ambassador to France and Treasury
Secretary under Presidents Kennedy and
Johnson - Christine Todd Whitman, former Governor of
New Jersey and current heads the U.S. EPA
Bernards Township
- Kienast Quints, born in 1970 in Liberty Corner.
At that time only the third set to survive. - Woodruff English, prominent attorney
- John Sloane, founder of W & J Sloane
Furniture Company. Daughter married Cyrus
Vance, Secretary of State under President
Carter. They lived on his estate. - Walter Reynolds, heir to Reynolds Tobacco
Company. He sold the property to build the
U.S. Veterans Administration Center at Lyons. - George Ludlow Lee, Chairman of Red Devil
Paint Company. He lived at Cedar Hill and
donated 60 acres to build Ridge High School
and Cedar Hill School. - William Childs, with his brother Samuel Childs
established the Childs Restaurant chain
throughout the country.
Bernardsville
- John F. Dryden, U.S. Senator and founder of the
Prudential Insurance Company. - George B. Post, architect, designed the NY Stock
Exchange and the NY Times buildings. - Frederick P. Olcott, President of Central Trust
Company - Ogden Hammond, diplomat, former Ambassador to
Spain and father of Millicent Fenwick. - John A. Roebling planned and built the Brooklyn
Bridge. Washington Roebling invented the cable
that made suspension bridges possible. - William O. Douglas, former member of the U.S.
Supreme Court. He lived here while attending
Columbia University School of Law.
Far Hills - Charles Englehard, dealer in industrial metals
and
minerals. He was the model for Ian Fleming’s
“Goldfinger”. - Grant Schley, banker, broker, tycoon, building
of
Fro-Heim (Happy Home) estate of 400 farms and
4000 acres (1500 under cultivation). It is now the
site of Moorland Farms. - Phil Cook, comedian of stage and radio in the
1930s
Peapack-Gladstone
- Walter Ladd and Kate Macy Ladd, philanthropists,
built Natirar (Raritan spelled backwards), 505 acres
in three towns and a 47 room mansion. It is now
owned by the estate of the King of Morocco.
Proceeds of the sale were distributed to five
universities. - C. Ledyard Blair, financier, built 55 room villa
in
style of Louis XIII on 423 acres. - Walter Matheny, established the Matheny School
in
1946 to assist victims of cerebral palsy and related
illnesses.
These are/were some of the Somerset Hills neighbors. Some of the residences
lived in by these luminaries are no longer in existence. Others have
been used for different purposes. Yet, everyone selected the Somerset
Hills to enjoy daily living.