Charles Suydam Cutting

Charles Suydam Cutting, CBE (January 17, 1889 – August 24, 1972) was an explorer, naturalist, society figure, philanthropist, and author. He travelled around the world on numerous expeditions including the Field Museum-Chicago Daily News Abyssinian, Kelley-Roosevelts Asiatic, and Vernay-Cutting Expeditions. He was among the first Europeans to enter the forbidden city of Lhasa in Tibet and is credited with introducing the Lhasa Apso breed into the United States. Early life Cutting was born in New York City on January 17, 1889. He was the son of Robert Fulton Cutting, known as the "first citizen of New York," and Helen (née Suydam) Cutting, who married in 1883. From his father's first marriage, he had an older half-brother, Robert Bayard Cutting, who died in Paris during World War I. Among his full siblings was Helen Suydam Cutting, who married Lucius Kellogg Wilmerding Jr.; Elisabeth McEvers Cutting; Robert Fulton Cutting Jr.; Ruth Hunter Cutting; and Schermerhorn Cutting, who died young. Among his many prominent family members was his maternal uncle, Walter Lispenard Suydam, and his paternal uncle, William Bayard Cutting. His mother was a granddaughter of Abraham Schermerhorn and a niece of Caroline Schermerhorn, who was married to William Backhouse Astor Jr. Cutting went to the Groton School and Harvard University, where he graduated in 1912 with an engineering major.