Robert L. Gerry, Jr

Robert Livingston Gerry, Jr. (December 5, 1911 – December 1979) was an accomplished American polo player.

Two-time winner of the U.S. Open Polo Championship.
* Won in 1939 playing the #2 position for the Bostwick Field team.
* Won in 1940 playing the #2 position for the Aknusti team.
* Lost in finals of 1941 championship while playing for the Aknusti team. (From 1923 to 1941 all U.S. Open Polo Championships were played at Meadow Brook on Long Island, New York)

Owned until his death was his sprawling 2,000 acre estate "Aknusti" (later renamed Broadlands) in the rolling hills of Delaware County, New York. It has acreage in the townships of Andes, Delhi, and Bovina New York. It is an almost contiguous estate with a polo field, multiple working farms, a 20,000 sq. ft. mountain ridge sited colonial manor house, numerous dependencies, and landscaping done by Frederick Law Olmstead. It was sold in the early 1980s to non-Gerry owners, but remained intact through the end of 2006 when it was acquired by Amanresorts. [http://www.allianceforbovina.org/AmanFactSheet_Sept07-afb.pdf]

Family

* Son of Robert L. Gerry, Sr.
* Twin brothers Henry and Edward; and an older brother Elbridge T. "Ebby" Gerry
* Nephew of Peter G. Gerry
* Nephew of W. Averell Harriman
* Grandson of railroad baron E.H. Harriman. (Mother was E H Harriman's daughter, Cornelia Harriman, who married Robert L. Gerry, Sr.)
* Great-great grandson of Elbridge Gerry, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
* Surviving children: Robert L. Gerry III

Robert's father, a successful real estate developer, died at Aknusti at the age of 81 on October 31, 1957 [http://www.mi-harness.com/SBreds/Memor60.html] just a few hours after his brother, former U. S. Senator Peter G. Gerry, died in Providence, Rhode Island. Robert L. Gerry, Jr's mother was a sister to Roland Harriman and to the New York governor, W. Averill Harriman.

Articles

ources

* [http://www.longislandgenealogy.com/rensselaer/fam01976.htm Genealogy - Gerry family]
* [http://info.hartwick.edu/library/archives/gerry/moreinfo.html Gerry family archive] at Hartwick College
* [http://www.usopenpolo.com/06/history1930-1953.php U.S. Open Polo history]
* [http://ca.encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefAuxArt.aspx?refid=461501486 1939 U.S. Open Polo Championships]
* [http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,766183,00.html Time Magazine documentation of 1941 loss in U.S. Open finals]
* [http://www.allianceforbovina.org/AmanFactSheet_Sept07-afb.pdf 2007 Aman Resort at the Gerry Estate]
* [http://www.mi-harness.com/SBreds/Memor60.html Standardbred Horsemans Memorial]

References