James W. Pinchot

James Wallace Pinchot signally exhibited the finest qualities of the Gallic American, second to no other stock in illuminating the meaning of our life, the life of independent achievement in fortune and education, the life of service for the uplift of our composite community. French in name and origin, a Pennsylvanian by birth and training, he became an eminent New Yorker and a founder in the world of American universities. At nineteen he began his life as a merchant, and foreign travel in pursuit of business gave him a cosmopolitan mind; at thirty-two [sic: thirty-one] he became a Centurion, and for forty-five years he frequented our rooms. He was a connoisseur in literature and the fine arts, was identified with the larger interests of finance and commerce, and was ever a staunch supporter of our charities and museums. By marriage he was allied with New England, in business with the metropolis, and in what became his foremost interest, with the nation, so that the closing years of his life were spent in Washington. For his record as an American rests after all on his absorbing interest in forestry. To the restoration of the single natural resource which is capable of renewal after reckless waste, he devoted infinite pains and great sums of money. His Milford homestead and estate are the laboratory station of the Yale School of Forestry, of which he was the principal founder, and his name in a second generation [namely, his son Gifford Pinchot] is identified with the national forestry commission, for he devoted family and fortune alike to the well-being of his native land down the long vista of the future. His was a gentle, kindly soul, companionable, charitable, sane. It was mirrored in his fine bearing and expressive face. For the conciliation of the French republic with our own his mind was much enlisted, and to good-will among all men he was devoted.

William Milligan Sloane
1909 Century Association Yearbook