Daniel LeRoy Dresser (December 13, 1862 – July 10, 1915) was an American merchant and banker. He killed himself after he was bankrupted by the collapse of the United States Shipbuilding Company, a project that involved J.P. Morgan and Charles M. Schwab. The New York Times wrote that his "rise and fall in finance was one of the greatest sensations of the banking history of the first decade of the century…."
Early life
Dresser was born in Newport, Rhode Island to Elizabeth Stuyvesant LeRoy and George Warren Dresser, an Army brevet major. His maternal grandparents were Susan Elizabeth (née Fish) and Daniel LeRoy. His maternal great-grandparents were Elizabeth Stuyvesant and Nicholas Fish.
His sisters included Edith Stuyvesant Dresser who married George Washington Vanderbilt II, and Natalie Bayard Dresser who married John Nicholas Brown. His sister Pauline married Rev. George D. Merrill of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and his sister Susan married Vicomte Romain D'Osmoy of Normandy, France.
In 1885, Dresser was a founding director of the Newport Fish and Game Association. He attended of Columbia College, graduating in 1889. There, he was a member of the Fraternity of Delta Psi (aka St. Anthony Hall). He was also appointed to the committee of the Intercollegiate Athletic Club.
Career
In 1889, Dresser started his first business. He inherited a fortune, and became a member of Nelson, Goodrich & Dresser by 1891. In 1894, the successful firm became Dresser & Goodrich. By 1897, he was earning $100,000 a year. In May 1897, he established Dresser & Co., a wholesale dry goods business that specialized in Japanese silks, hosiery, and webbing, with partners Charles E. Reiss and C. E. Sawyer. Dresser & Co. "advanced money to manufacturers and sold silks on commission, and had representatives in Japan, China, and England." The firm was located at 71 Franklin Street in New York City.
Dresser's next business interest was the American Asiatic Steamship Company, and he served as its vice president. He also became a director in the American Brass Company, the American Tubing and Webbing Company, and the Holmes, Booth & Hayden Company. He was also president of the Richmond Realty Improvement Association.
He was elected president of the Merchants' Association of New York in 1901. Under his leadership, the group distributed a circular about the corruption of the New York City police department and of its leadership, saying it was "an injury to every interest in the city." A newspaper had high hopes for their success, observing, "Men like Daniel LeRoy Dresser can not be threatened with moral blackmail which these many years have served to terrorize Tammany's enemies." In January 1902, Dresser and the secretary of the Merchants' Association, met with President Theodore Roosevelt to discuss the need for a new post office in New York. In April 1902, Dresser sent a letter to Roosevelt that mentions an investigation into silk frauds.
In January 1902, Dresser became a founding director of the newly formed Trust Company of the Republic which was organized "to loan money to farmers throughout the country on warehouse receipts as security, and, when its resources will not permit of such loans, to become a headquarters for the negotiation of paper of that character." The Trust Company had $1 million in capital and $500,000 in surpluses. Dresser also served on the board of its associated Security Warehouse Company, which planned to build warehouses across the United States to store the cotton, rice, and raw materials received from the farmers. On March 31, 1902, Dresser was president of the Trust Company which was located at 345 Broadway in New York City. This banking business involved many prominent individuals in New York's financial world. The New York Times noted, "He began to think and work in millions."