Schuyler Chapin

Schuyler Garrison Chapin (February 13, 1923 – March 7, 2009) was a General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera, and later Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for New York City during the administration of Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He also served as the dean of the Columbia University School of the Arts. Early life and family Schuyler Garrison Chapin was born on February 13, 1923. He was the son of Lindley Hoffman Paul Chapin (1888–1938) and Leila Howard Chapin (née Burden; 1899–1967). His father's sisters were poet Katherine Garrison Chapin and sculptor Cornelia Van Auken Chapin; his father's half-sister was publisher Marguerite Caetani. Career While still a teenager, in the 1930s, he began accompanying millionaire widow and former actress Eleanor Belmont to the Metropolitan Opera. He attended the Millbrook School in 1940, where he was very active in the performing and musical arts, however, he did not graduate from high school, nor college, but was the recipient of numerous university honors. He became a pilot during World War II. By 1953, he had become Jascha Heifetz's tour manager. Around this time, he also befriended Leonard Bernstein, several of whose live recordings, including the Grammy award-winning Beethoven's Birthday (1970), Chapin produced.