Robert Fulton Cutting

Robert Fulton Cutting (June 27, 1852 – September 21, 1934), was an American financier and philanthropist known as "the first citizen of New York." Cutting and his brother William started the sugar beet industry in the United States in 1888. During his life he was known for his fight against Tammany Hall and Republican party bosses. In 1897, he formed the Citizens Union, an organization that studied political issues, developed policies, and presented them to the public to influence politics, particularly around elections. This later became the Bureau of Municipal Research. He was also a vestryman at St. George's Church in Stuyvesant Square. He became President of the Cooper Union in 1914, and served in that position until his death in 1934. Early life Cutting was born in New York City on January 12, 1850. He was the second son of Fulton Cutting (1816–1875) and Elise Justine (née Bayard) Cutting (1823–1852). He was the younger brother of William Bayard Cutting, also a financier. Both brothers, through their mother, were direct descendants of William Bayard Jr, a close friend of Alexander Hamilton. The fireplace mantle beside which Hamilton supposedly died is now in the Mayor of New York City’s Mansion. His paternal grandparents were William Cutting (1773–1820) and Gertrude Livingston (1778–1864), the sister of Henry Walter Livingston, a U.S. Representative from New York, and the daughter of Walter Livingston, the 1st Speaker of the New York State Assembly. He was the nephew of Francis Brockholst Cutting, also a U.S. Representative from New York. His maternal grandfather, Robert Bayard, was Robert Fulton's partner. Cutting and Fulton were brothers-in-law who had married Livingston sisters. Cutting direct ancestors included members from the Stuyvesant, Bayard, Schuyler and Van Cortlandt families of colonial New York.