Charles R. Gay
Charles Richard Gay was an American banker who served as president of the [New York Stock Exchange].
Early life
Gay was born in Brooklyn on September 14, 1875. He was a son of Charles Abram Gay and Anna Mitchell Gay. His younger brother was Robert Malcolm Gay, a prominent English professor.He was educated at Brooklyn Public School 35 before attending Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.
Career
After "engaging in the fire insurance, banking and wholesale coal businesses," he purchased his seat and became a member of the New York Stock Exchange in 1911, four years later forming the firm of Gay & Goepel. In 1919, he merged his firm with Whitehouse & Co., was reportedly the oldest firm on the Exchange.In 1935, when he was senior partner at Whitehouse & Co., he was elected president of the Exchange, succeeding Richard Whitney. Gay served three terms as president, retiring in May 1938. He was president during a trying time for the Exchange and financial markets and often traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with the Securities and Exchange Commission and to participate with Senate inquiries.
After his tenure as president of the Exchange, he became the head of Winthrop, Whitehouse & Co., a longtime securities firm established in 1828. At the time of his death, he was serving on the board of directors of the Dime Savings Bank.
Personal life
In 1898, he married Jennie Campbell Bowdish, a daughter of the Rev. Wellesley Wellington Bowdish and Jennie Elizabeth Bowdish. They lived at 440 East 19th Street in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. Together, Jennie and Charles were the parents of one son:- William Campbell Gay, who was also a member of the New York Stock Exchange and who lived in Halesite on Long Island. He married Evelyn W. Sherman.
He died at the Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn on March 23, 1946. A memorial was held for Gay at Trinity Church in Manhattan.