August Jr Belmont

Vocation

American financier, the builder of New York's Belmont Park racetrack, and a major owner/breeder of thoroughbred racehorses. Like his father, August Belmont, Jr, was an avid thoroughbred racing fan. According to his TIME magazine obituary, August Belmont, Jr. "is credited with having saved thoroughbred racing when it was at its lowest ebb in the East, after the repeal of the racing law in New York State." He served as the first president of The Jockey Club and was chairman of the New York State Racing Commission. In 1895 he was one of the nine founding members of the National Steeplechase Association. In 1881, August Belmont, Jr. married childhood sweetheart and next-door neighbor, Elizabeth Hamilton Morgan. She died at age thirty-six while visiting Paris, France in 1898. A widower for twelve years, on February 26, 1910 he married actress Eleanor Robson. He spent his last years on his 1,100-acre (4.5 km2) estate in North Babylon, New York. He died on December 10, 1924 at his apartment at 550 Park Avenue, New York City. Link to Wikipedia biography