Ogden Phipps

Vocation

American stockbroker, court tennis champion and Hall of Fame member, thoroughbred horse racing executive and owner/breeder, and an art collector and philanthropist. Phipps was the son of Henry Carnegie Phipps and Gladys Livingston Mills. His grandfather Henry Phipps was a major philanthropist who had amassed a fortune as the second largest shareholder in the Carnegie Steel Company. Educated at Harvard University, Ogden Phipps became a champion court tennis player, capturing the U.S. championship seven times and the British championship once. During World War II, Ogden Phipps served with the United States Navy. After the war he became a partner in the prominent brokerage firm, Smith Barney & Co. then used his training to head up Bessemer Securities Corporation, a private holding company that managed the fortune left to Phipps family members by their grandfather. In November 1937, he married wealthy New York socialite Lillian Bostwick, the sister of Hall of Fame steeplechase jockey, George Herbert Bostwick. After World War II, Ogden Phipps bought a group of horses from the estate of Colonel Edward R. Bradley that formed the basis for what would become his major horse racing operation. Like his family's Wheatley Stable, Phipps too would use Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky for breeding and developing of his horses. In 1959 he became a founding member of the New York Racing Association and a member of its board of trustees. Approaching his 80th birthday, he resigned in 1988 and was named a director emeritus. He also served as a Chairman of the The Jockey Club for twenty years and at the time of his death was the Club's longest reigning member. Ogden Phipps bred nine Champions of his own, winning Eclipse Awards for both leading owner and leading breeder in 1988. His most famous horses include Buckpasser, Personal Ensign, and Easy Goer, all of whom are in the United States Racing Hall of Fame. In 2001, he was inducted into the International Court Tennis Hall of Fame. He died on April 21, 2002. Link to Wikipedia biography