Charles Steele (lawyer)
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Charles Steele | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 5, 1857 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Died | August 5, 1939 (aged 82) Old Westbury, New York, U.S. |
Resting place | Locust Valley Cemetery, Locust Valley, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia Columbia Law School |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Employer | J.P. Morgan & Co. |
| Spouse |
Nannie Gordon French
(m. 1885; died 1932) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | Isaac Nevett Steele Rosa Nelson Steele |
| Relatives | John Nevett Steele (uncle) |
Charles Steele (May 5, 1857 – August 5, 1939) was an American lawyer and philanthropist who was a member of J.P. Morgan & Co. for 39 years.
He was a son of Isaac Nevett Steele (1809–1891) and Rosa Londonia (née Nelson) Steele (1825–1894). Among his siblings was the Rev. James Nevett Steele of Trinity Church (his wife as a daughter of Herman D. Aldrich),[1][2] Mary Steele, John Nelson Steele, Rosa Nelson Steele, Kate Steele, Henry Maynadier Steele.[3] His father was a "distinguished lawyer" who was "universally recognized for years as the leader of the Maryland Bar" and served as the Chargé d'Affaires, Venezuela under three U.S. Presidents, serving from 1850 to 1853.[4]
He was the nephew of Rep. John Nevett Steele,[5] and Mary Nevett Steele, who married John Campbell Henry (the eldest son and heir of Gov. John Henry).[6] His maternal grandfather was U.S. Representative, U.S. Ambassador to Italy and U.S. Attorney General John Nelson and his great-grandfather was Revolutionary War Brig. Gen. and U.S. Rep. Roger Nelson.[4]
Steele attended the University of Virginia, receiving a Master of Arts degree in 1878. He later graduated from Columbia Law School in 1880.[7]
Career
After his graduation from Columbia, he was admitted to the bar in New York on motion of Theodore William Dwight. He first practiced alone, then in 1880, joined with Field, Dorsheimer, Bacon & Deyo, later renamed Dorsheimer, Bacon & Steele.[4] He later became a partner of James A. Buchanan, the former head of the law department of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad, in the firm of Buchanan & Steele, with Steele becoming general counsel of the Erie.[4] Seward, Guthrie & Steele on February 1, 1892.[4] In the 1890s, Morgan partner Charles H. Coster retained Steele to assist with reorganizing certain railroad interest,[7] including the reorganization of the Erie Railroad.[8]
In 1900, Coster died and J. Pierpont Morgan invited Steele, during Coster's funeral,[9] to become a partner in J.P. Morgan & Co. Steele then "played an important but unpublicized part in the affairs of the firm until 1934, when, because of his age, he gave up active participation. He remained a partner, however, until his death, although he gave up his many corporate directorships at his retirement."[7] At the time of his admission, a single partnership agreement governed both the American and French houses of Morgan, therefore, Steele was admitted as a partner in the New York firm, the Philadelphia firm (Drexel, Morgan & Co.) and the Paris firm (Morgan, Harjes & Co.).[8] Steele, who became a close friend of Morgan,[10] served on the corporate boards of the International Mercantile Marine Co., the U.S. Steel Corporation, the Southern Railroad Company, the International Harvester Company, Cerro de Pasco, and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad.[7][8]
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