Edward Stephen Harkness (January 22, 1874 – January 29, 1940) was an American philanthropist. Given privately and through his family's Commonwealth Fund, Harkness' gifts to private hospitals, art museums, and educational institutions in the Northeastern United States were among the largest of the early twentieth century. He was a major benefactor to Columbia University, Yale University, Harvard University, Phillips Exeter Academy, St. Paul's School, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1934.
Harkness inherited his fortune from his father, Stephen V. Harkness, whose wealth was established by an early investment in Standard Oil, and his brother, Charles W. Harkness. In 1918, he was ranked the 6th-richest person in the United States by Forbes magazine's first "Rich List", behind John D. Rockefeller, Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Carnegie, George Fisher Baker, and William Rockefeller.
Biography
Edward ("Ned") Harkness was born in Cleveland, Ohio, one of four sons of Anna M. Harkness and Stephen V. Harkness, a harness-maker who invested in and was one of the five founding partners in the forerunner of Standard Oil, John D. Rockefeller's oil company. Stephen Harkness died when Edward was fourteen, leaving his wife and oldest son, Charles, to manage the estate. Harkness attended St. Paul's School and Yale College, Class of 1897 and Columbia Law School. Harkness, his brother Charles, and cousin William were members of Wolf's Head Society at Yale. While at Yale, Ned enlisted the assistance of Henry Sloane Coffin as a tutor. Ned and Henry became friends and they roomed together at Yale. Henry later became the pastor of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church just blocks away from Ned and Mary's home at 1 East 75th Street in New York. Also, Henry's brother William Sloane Coffin Sr. was the president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1931–1933. Ned had already been heavily involved with the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a trustee and major donor.
After graduating, Edward Harkness married Mary Stillman, daughter of wealthy New York attorney Thomas E. Stillman, in 1904. Mary's maternal grandfather was Thomas S. Greenman, a shipbuilder in Mystic, Connecticut, who co-founded George Greenman & Co shipyard. (This is now part of the Mystic Seaport Museum). Harkness' mother gave the couple a new Italian Renaissance mansion on New York City's Upper East Side as a wedding present. As the building's architect, Harkness chose Yale College classmate James Gamble Rogers, who would later design many of his philanthropic building projects. The home, at 75th Street and 5th Avenue and now known as the Edward S. Harkness House, became the headquarters of Harkness' Commonwealth Fund after Mary's death.
Harkness briefly served as a railroad director for the Southern Pacific Railroad, but within several years decided to become a full-time philanthropist. He began making gifts to the Egyptian collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1912, and that same year was appointed to the museum's board of trustees.
Harkness' older brother Charles died in 1916 at age 55, leaving Edward more than US$80 million, $ in , much of it in Standard Oil stock. Charles had continued to invest substantially in Standard Oil as manager of the family fortune, and his brother's estate made Harkness the third-largest stakeholder in Standard Oil.
Philanthropy
Harkness made charitable gifts totaling more than $129 million, the equivalent of $ in . His philanthropic peers John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie gave respectively $550 million and $350 million.
Medical philanthropy
Harkness encouraged and orchestrated the merger of Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, creating Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center (CPMC), the world's first academic medical center.
CPMC was built in the 1920s on the site of Hilltop Park, the one-time home stadium of the New York Yankees, which Harkness purchased and donated. Despite his aversion to have anything named for himself, The Edward Harkness Eye Institute was named by relatives.
In 1997, Columbia-Presbyterian merged with the New York Hospital. New York Hospital had affiliated with Cornell University's Weill Cornell Medical College in the 1930s, following their lead. Now known as NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital / Columbia University Medical Center, the Harkness Pavilion, named for father Stephen, is a central part of the campus.