John Woodruff Simpson

John Woodruff Simpson (October 13, 1850 – May 16, 1920) was a founding member of law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, then titled Simpson, Thacher, & Barnum.[1] He and his wife were known as avid art collectors, with many pieces from their estate eventually going to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.[2]

John Woodruff Simpson
From Volume 5 of 1923's Vermont, The Green Mountain State
Born(1850-10-13)October 13, 1850
Craftsbury, Vermont
DiedMay 16, 1920(1920-05-16) (aged 69)
New York City
Alma materAmherst College
Columbia Law School
OccupationLawyer
Spouse(s)Kate Seney Simpson
ChildrenJean W. Simpson

Biography

Simpson was born and raised in East Craftsbury, Vermont. He attended Amherst College, and graduated from Columbia Law School in 1873. He was formerly a law clerk at the old-line firm Alexander & Green. Along with his fellow former clerks Thomas Thacher and William M. Barnum, they organized their new law firm on January 1, 1884.[3]

Simpson was one of the founding members of the "good government" organization the City Club of New York.[4]

In the early 1900s Simpson commissioned a bronze sculpture by Moses Jacob Ezekiel in the likeness of the blind poet Homer (accompanied by a student guide), as a gift for Amherst College, his alma mater.[5] For reasons unknown the gift was refused, and Thomas Nelson Page, a University of Virginia alumnus who was active in his college's Alumni Association, stepped in to secure the gift of the statue to UVa instead.[6] The final sculpture, entitled Blind Homer With His Student Guide, was completed in 1907, and is currently installed on The Lawn, in the grass to the north of Old Cabell Hall.

Simpson died May 16, 1920, and is buried in East Craftsbury.[7] He left an estate appraised in 1922 at $2,665,894 (equivalent to $32.5 million in 2019).[1]

Simpson's widow, Kate Seney Simpson, died in 1943.[2] Simpson never forgot his origins, and is commemorated in the John Woodruff Simpson Memorial Library in East Craftsbury.[8]

References
  1. "Lawyer Left $2,665,894" (PDF). New York Times. January 10, 1922. John W. Simpson, member of Simpson, Thacher D. Bartlett, lawyers, who died May 16, 1920, ...He gave the bulk estate to his wife, Kate Seney Simpson. and his daughter, Jean W. Simpson.
  2. "Mrs. John W. Simpson". New York Times. January 12, 1943. Kate Seney Simpson, the widow of John W. Simpson, New York lawyer, died yesterday in her home in East Craftsbury, Vt., after a short illness, ...
  3. Firm Website, History
  4. "CITY CLUB TO MARK 50TH ANNIVERSARY," New York Times (May 10, 1942).
  5. Bruce, Philip Alexander (1921). History of the University of Virginia. V. p. 320.
  6. Roberts, Josie (2000-04-07). "Homer's Odyssey brings him to Lawn". The Cavalier Daily. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
  7. "John Woodruff Simpson". Find a Grave. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  8. John Woodruff Simpson Memorial Library, libraries.org; accessed 2017.08.17


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