William Henry Iii Vanderbilt

Vocation

Governor of Rhode Island (January 1939 to January 1941) and a member of the wealthy and socially prominent Vanderbilt family. Vanderbilt married Emily O'Neill Davies, granddaughter of Daniel O'Neill, owner of the Pittsburgh Dispatch newspaper, on November 1, 1923 at Grace Church, New York. The couple gave birth to a daughter, Emily "Paddy" Vanderbilt on May 12, 1925 in New York. The couple's marriage was troubled and Emily sued for divorce in Paris in the summer of 1926, but reconciled. She again sued for divorce in Newport, Rhode Island which was granted in June 1928. Vanderbilt secondly married Anne Gordon Colby of West Orange, New Jersey on December 27, 1929. They had three children. In 1925 Vanderbilt started a coach bus company, called The Short Line, carrying passengers between Newport and Providence. Within a few years he expanded the business to serve points throughout New England and New York. In May 1941 Vanderbilt, a Naval Reservist, was called to active duty with the rank of lieutenant commander and initially assigned to the Panama Canal Zone. He was promoted to commander on August 15, 1942. He was later assigned to the staff of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He was promoted to the rank of captain prior to the end of the war. Vanderbilt died of cancer on April 14, 1981 at the age of 79. Link to Wikipedia biography