Brown, John Nicholas, 1900-1979

John Nicholas Brown (1900-1979) was born on February 21, 1900 in New York City as the only child of John Nicholas Brown (1861-1900) and Natalie Bayard Dresser Brown (1869-1950). When John Nicholas Brown was just two months old, his father contracted Typhoid fever and died suddenly on May 1, 1900. The tragic deaths of his father and later, his uncle, Harold Brown, left John Nicholas to become the sole heir to the family fortune at the tender age of three months and dubbed by the public as once "the richest baby in America."

As a result of such an immense estate, Natalie Bayard Brown then took as her life's work the management of her son's inheritance. As John progressed through his childhood under the great care of his mother and relatives, he was eventually sent John to St. George's School in Newport. St. George's school was a small, independent institution, with which its spiritual and intellectual values were well inculcated in John. By age 18, he was determined to become the master of his fate. Even though assured by Brown's President Faunce that his college career at Brown University would be made as easy as possible, John was determined to go to Harvard instead.

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