Investing, building, creating, and preserving—a father-son legacy. Fund at The Trust supports a variety of New York City nonprofits.
Gurdon Weller Wattles (1902-2004)
Gurdon Bayne Wattles (1935-2020)
Gurdon Weller Wattles’ innovation was boundary-breaking investments. As a 5-year-old, he experienced the “Panic of 1907,” the first worldwide financial crisis of the 20th century, which led to monetary reform and the establishment of the Federal Reserve System. Gurdon became a major investment banker of his time.
Born in Buffalo, New York, Gurdon was one of four children of Frank Erbin Wattles and the former Alice Weller. Gurdon and his brother Frank Jr. became successful real estate investors in Buffalo, and both had a reputation for honesty and integrity.
Gurdon attended the Nicholas School, a boys’ college prep school in Buffalo, and in 1923 graduated from the Sheffield School of Engineering at Yale University. He married Elizabeth “Betty” van Beuren Bayne in 1933, and they had two sons, Gurdon Bayne Wattles in 1935 and James Howard Wattles in 1944. James died at age 3. Gurdon and Betty’s marriage ended in divorce.
Gurdon’s second marriage, in 1953, was to Anita “Peter” Bradshaw. The marriage ended with Anita’s death in 1995.
By the late 1950s, Gurdon was president of Century Investors, the American Manufacturing Company, and the Webster Investment Company. He also was a director of several corporations. A value investor who acquired interests in asset-heavy, undervalued companies, he engineered a major 1960s merger: Merganthaler Linotype Company acquired the far larger Electric Autolite Company, forming Eltra Corporation In 1979. Gurdon then negotiated the sale of Eltra to Allied Chemical, which, after another merger, was acquired by Honeywell International in 1999.
Gurdon Weller Wattles died in 2004 at age 102.
His son, Gurdon Bayne, was a tireless creator, with enthusiasm for ideas, building structures, and anything that floated. He was energetic, curious, and had a quick sense of humor. He loved to think analytically and had a thorough knowledge of history. His favorite pastimes were sailing, horseback riding, and exploring new technologies.
He graduated from Phillips Academy-Andover in Massachusetts in 1953, and Cornell University in 1957. A few months after graduation, he married the former Elizabeth Stanton, and they had two sons and a daughter, Alexander Bayne, Gurdon Stanton, and Elizabeth “Wendy” Wilkes. Gurdon Bayne took over as president and a director of the American Manufacturing Company and was a director of both Eltra and the Safety Railway Corporation. His marriage to Elizabeth ended in divorce.
Gurdon married his second wife, the former Kathy Knudson, in 2000, and they lived in Little Compton, Rhode Island. She had two daughters from a prior marriage.
Gurdon believed that education was the key to lifelong success. He started an Apprentice Program at the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts and sponsored low-income students in the New Bedford Star Kids Scholarship Program.
His love of horses led him to support High Hopes Therapeutic riding in Lyme, Connecticut. He joined the board, volunteered, and initiated a training program for therapeutic riding professionals. With a connection to and passion for the natural environment, he made significant contributions to land and wildlife conservation. Farmland he owned in Port Murray, New Jersey, is now the 51-acre Audubon Wattles Stewardship Center. And in Bristol, Rhode Island, he helped make the Audubon Society’s Environmental Education Center a reality.
Gurdon adored music and was a longtime board member of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and a supporter of the New Bedford Symphony. On February 15, 2020, the New Haven Symphony presented Gurdon and Kathleen the NHSO Gala Award. During the celebration, the board announced that in the future, the award will be known as the Wattles Award to honor their “extraordinary legacy … by celebrating and recognizing individuals making exceptional and inspirational positive impacts on the mission of the Symphony.”
Seven months later, on September 27, Gurdon Bayne Wattles died unexpectedly. He was 85.
The Wattles Family Charitable Trust Fund he established in The New York Community Trust is unrestricted and has helped a range of charitable causes.
