Montgomery Schuyler

Montgomery Schuyler graduated from Columbia in 1899 and took the A.M. the following year. His outstanding talent was for languages, of which he spoke French, German, Russian, and Italian fluently, and he had a working knowledge of several others. If he had not been diverted to diplomacy, he could have become a very considerable philologist, for he was a first rate student of Sanskrit and the classics, and the leading authority of his day on Avestan and the religion and culture of ancient Persia.

In 1902, however, he began his diplomatic career as Second Secretary of the Embassy at St. Petersburg; after that he was moved from one capital to another, increasing in rank as the years passed. He finally became Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to El Salvador; and then he retired and went into Wall Street. While he was a stockbroker, he revived his early interests in Sanskrit and the ancient civilization of Iran, but he never got back to academic pursuits or renewed the scholarly researches he was so well fitted for.

In politics he was always a Republican. He got his start in the heyday of the Ohio hierarchy, and the New Deal was anathema to him. He was interested in genealogy and the Dutch past of New York, and was a director of the Netherland-American Foundation; but he did not frequent the Club very much except for the music recitals.

Schuyler came of an old New York family. His demeanor was correct and reserved. He was not original, but whatever he undertook he accomplished with admirable style and finish. In the day when every man’s work shall be made manifest, it will be written for all to read that he served his country loyally and well.

George W. Martin
1956 Century Association Yearbook