Lauder Greenway family


The Lauder Greenway Family is a Scottish-American clan whose influence on, and involvement in, American political and economic affairs dates from the 1640s through the contemporary era. The modern progenitor is George Lauder, Sr., a Scottish businessman and political radical who raised his son, George Lauder, and nephew Andrew Carnegie. The two latter men would go on to create the Carnegie Steel Corporation, the forerunner to U.S. Steel, and subsequently become two of the richest men in the world.

Business activities

The genesis of the modern iteration of the family is through their development, and partial ownership of, the Carnegie Steel Corporation. George Lauder was a Scottish industrialist and trained engineer who studied under Lord Kelvin. He was the "cousin-brother" of steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, and a partner in the Carnegie Steel Corporation. The sale of Carnegie Steel to J.P. Morgan created U.S. Steel, where Lauder was on the board of directors. This was the first corporation in the world with a market capitalization exceeding US$1 billion. Lauder's daughter, Harriet, married Dr. James C. Greenway, bringing the two families together.

Philanthropic activities

Major, long term support from the family has been directed to Yale University, Phillips Andover, the Metropolitan Opera Association, the New York Philharmonic, and the New York University Institute of Fine Arts.

Notable Contemporary Members

Lauder Side

Through George Lauder’s marriage to Anna Maria Romeyn Varick, their descendants above are from the Old Dutch Society of New York City. Mrs. Lauder was a descendant of both Joris Jansen Rapelje, a member of the Council of Twelve Men, the first democratic body in the history of the United States, and Founding Father Colonel Richard Varick, private secretary to George Washington, and the first mayor of New York City after independence.

Greenway Side

On the Greenway side, this family are descendant from a number of military and business leaders from American History including:
The Lauder Greenway Estate is a 50-acre private property with a French Renaissance mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. For a time, it was the most expensive home in United States history.
Built for industrialist John Hamilton Gourlie in 1896, it was purchased by the Lauder Greenway Family in 1905 and would stay in that family's hands for a majority of its existence. Considered "...Greenwich, Conn.’s last Great Estate, an opulent robber baron-era property enveloping 50 prized acres along the tony New York suburb’s waterfront." It is the largest surviving Gilded Age mansion in Connecticut.