Lawyer
Centurion, 1900–1928
Born 8 April 1856 in Fishkill, New York
Died 18 December 1928 in Princeton, New Jersey
Proposed by Robert Fulton Cutting and William Church Osborn
Elected 3 November 1900 at age forty-four
Archivist’s Note: Grandson of Gulian C. Verplanck
Proposer of:
Century Memorial
William E. Verplanck was a familiar figure at the Century lunch-table and in the Graham Library. He had a particular affiliation with the Club as grandson of its first president [Gulian Verplanck]; that very remarkable littérateur who, drafted suddenly from the pursuits of law to complete an unfinished volume of introductions to Shakespeare’s plays, stepped at once into the front rank of Shakespearian criticism and who, notably in his brilliant studies of “Othello” and “As You Like it,” had the distinction of shaping the present-day conception of those works. The grandson’s bent of mind was practical rather than literary, but a cultured mind and keen interest in the affairs of life gave flavor to his conversation, and he was as loyal a Centurion as his distinguished ancestor.
Alexander Dana Noyes
1929 Century Association Yearbook
