John M. Schiff

Infobox Person
name = John M. Schiff
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1904|8|26
birth_place = Roslyn, New York, U.S.
death_date = death date|1987|5|9
death_place = Oyster Bay, New York, U.S.
occupation = Businessman:
Banker
Racehorse owner/breeder

John Mortimer Schiff (August 26, 1904 - May 9, 1987) was an American banker and national president of the Boy Scouts of America from 1951 to 1956.

Born into an outstanding Jewish-German banker family in New York, as son of Mortimer L. Schiff and grandson of Jacob H. Schiff, Schiff graduated from Yale University in 1925 then spent a year at Oxford University in England. He learned the banking business as an employee with Bankers Trust Co. and for a time worked on the Missouri Pacific Railway Co. Following the 1931 death of his father, Mortimer L. Schiff, he became a partner in the investment banking firm Kuhn, Loeb & Co..

From 1965 to 1976, John Schiff served as a Trustee of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation then a Trustee Emeritus until his death in 1987.

John Schiff married Edith Baker, granddaughter of George Fisher Baker who was called "the richest, most powerful and most taciturn commercial banker in U. S. history" in a 1934 "TIME" magazine article. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,747268,00.html March 26, 1934 "TIME" magazine article Baker-Schiff] ] They had two sons, David T. and Peter G. Schiff.

couting movment

Both John Schiff and his father were notable early Boy Scouts of America leaders. John Schiff served as national president of the Boy Scouts of America from 1951 to 1956. Schiff also served on the World Scout Committee of the World Organization of the Scout Movement from 1955 until 1961.

Schiff was awarded the Bronze Wolf, the only distinction of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting, in 1961. The John M. Schiff Scout Reservation was named in his honor.

Thoroughbred horse racing

Schiff owned and bred thoroughbred racehorses. He was the breeder of the 1970 American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt Hoist the Flag and successfully raced a number of horses including Plugged Nickle and Droll Role. Fact|date=August 2008

References

ee also

Mortimer L. Schiff Scout Reservation