The Red Cross has been most fortunate in the acceptance of its
Vice-Presidency by Mr. Robert W. de Forest, of New York City. There are
few residents of that city so widely known for their philanthropic and
public spirit and work as Mr. de Forest.
Mr. de Forest is a graduate of Yale, a lawyer by profession, having
received his LL. B. from Columbia, and having also studied at Bonn
University. In 1904 the degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by
Yale University. Since 1874 he has been counsel, and since 1902
Vice-President, of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. For twenty years
he has been President of the Charity Organization of New York City;
he was a founder and first president of the Provident Loan Society,
the first philanthropic pawn-broker, the Chairman of the Tenement
House Commission of New York State in 1900, trustee and secretary of
the Metropolitan Art Museum, manager of the Presbyterian Hospital, a
trustee and director in various business institutions, was the first
Tenement House Commissioner of New York City, the President of the
National Conference of Charities and Correction in 1903, President of the
Municipal Art Commission of New York in 1905, and is Vice-President and
Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Sage Foundation.
This brief statement of the important positions Mr. de Forest has
occupied, or does occupy, is strongly indicative of the character and
ability of the man, and the Red Cross is heartily to be congratulated not
only upon its President, but upon its second officer, the Vice-President
of the Society.