Seward Prosser


Seward Prosser was an American banker and philanthropist who served as the head of Bankers Trust.

Early life

Prosser was born in Buffalo, New York on March 1, 1871. He was a son of Henry Wilbur Prosser and Anna Prosser. Among his siblings was Mason Fay Prosser, an attorney in Honolulu, Hawaii.
His family later moved to Brooklyn, where he was educated in the public schools before attending the Englewood School for Boys in Englewood, New Jersey.

Career

Prosser began his career with Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. He later became a member Prosser & Homans, representing Equitable Life. From 1907 to 1912, he served as vice president of the Astor Trust Company.
Beginning in 1912, he served as president Liberty National Bank until 1914 when he became president of Bankers Trust. He served as president until 1923 when he relinquished the presidency but continued to serve as a director, Chairman of the board of trustees, and a member of the Executive Committee.
Prosser also served as a director of many prominent companies, including the General Electric Company, the Astor Trust Company, Tobacco Products Corporation, the American Surety Company, the Bankers Safe Deposit Company, the International Nickel Company of Canada, the Kennecott Copper Corporation, the Graphite Metallizing Corporation, the Braden Copper Company, and the Utah Copper Company, among others.

Personal life

On October 25, 1902, Prosser was married to the English-born Constance Barber. Together, they lived in Englewood, New Jersey and in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, were the parents of:
He was a member of the Union League Club and the University Club of New York.
Prosser died at his home in Woods Hole on October 1, 1942. His funeral was held at the First Presbyterian Church of Englewood, and more than 1,000 persons attended with more than 40 friends and associates noted as honorary pallbearers. His widow died in July 1948.

Descendants

Through his eldest daughter, he was a grandfather of Prosser Gifford, a Director for the Office of Scholarly Programs in the Library of Congress who wrote a series on British and German colonialism in Africa.