Standard Oil/Philanthropist
Centurion, 1917–1939
Born 1 February 1877 in New York (Brooklyn), New York
Died 29 May 1939 in Glen Cove, New York
Buried Pratt Cemetery
, Lattingtown, New York
Proposed by Ben Foster and Lewis F. Frissell
Elected 2 June 1917 at age forty
Archivist’s Note: Brother of Frederic B. Pratt and George D. Pratt; father of Harold Irving Pratt; uncle of Charles Pratt
Century Memorial
The inherited responsibilities of Harold Irving Pratt were many and varied and he fulfilled them all with conscience and ability. He entered the family financial house and in time became its managing director, serving also upon the boards of numerous corporations. He was trustee and treasurer of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and took an active leadership in every public-spirited undertaking in the region of the family estate at Glen Cove. By nature generous and warmhearted, he gave with an open hand to countless charities. He served as president alike of Brooklyn Hospital and of the North Country Community Hospital at Glen Cove. But closer to his heart than any other cause, probably, was the upbuilding of Amherst College. He was the youngest of six brothers, all of whom were Amherst men—a rare if not a unique record in any college. Their classes ranged from ’79 to ’00. Harold Pratt served as treasurer of the Centennial Gift of $3,000,000 and gave constantly, himself, to one after another Amherst cause. His last contribution was to the fund for repairing the tragic loss of trees from the campus in the hurricane of 1938.
Geoffrey Parsons
1939 Century Memorials