- Whitney Tower
Infobox Person
name = Whitney Tower
image_size =
caption =
birth_date = June 30, 1923
birth_place =New York flagicon|United States
death_date = February 11, 1999
death_place =Saratoga Springs, New York flagicon|United States
occupation = Horse racing media
President of theNational Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
spouse = 1) Frances Cheston Train
2) Joan Baker Spear
3) Lucy Niblack Lyle
parents = Roderick Tower & Flora Whitney
children = Alix Tower-Thorne, Whitney Tower Jr., Frances Tower-Thacher, Harry Payne Tower, Aurora Tower, Alfred TowerWhitney Tower (
June 30 ,1923 -February 11 ,1999 ) was an American journalist reporting onThoroughbred horse racing and a president of theNational Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame . He was the son ofoil broker Roderick Tower andFlora Payne Whitney , a member of the prominentWhitney family .Family tradition
Whitney Tower's grandmother,
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney , founded theWhitney Museum of American Art , and his mother became the museum's chairman and president. However, his lifelong involvement in the horse racing industry was a natural career path for someone from one of the pre-eminent horse racing family's in the United States. Tower's great grandfather,William Collins Whitney , built an 800-foot stable with 84 box stalls and an adjoining mile-long training track at his vast summer estate near Old Westbury onLong Island . [http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-historyhome-mansions,0,7633887.story?coll=ny-lihistory-navigation] A breeder of twenty-six American stakes winners, William Collins Whitney and his offspring also maintained stables and breeding facilities at Newmarket in theUnited Kingdom where they won important races including the prestigiousEpsom Derby .Whitney Tower's grandfather,
Harry Payne Whitney , was also a major figure inthoroughbred horse racing . He owned a large stable and in 1915 established ahorse breeding farm inLexington, Kentucky and was thoroughbred racing's leading owner of the year in the United States on eight occasions. The breeder of almost two hundredstakes race winners Harry Payne Whitney's horses won twelveAmerican Classic Races . TheWhitney Handicap atSaratoga Race Course was inaugurated in the Whitney family's honor in 1928. As well, Tower's great-unclePayne Whitney and his offspring owned the very successfulGreentree Stable and Tower's uncleCornelius Vanderbilt Whitney was also a major Thoroughbred owner/breeder who founded the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. As recently as 2004, C.V. Whitney's widow, Marylou, won theBelmont Stakes .Education and working life
Whitney Tower's parents divorced and when he was four years old his mother remarried to MacCulloch Miller. Sent to study at St. George's School in
Middletown, Rhode Island he went on to graduate fromHarvard University .From 1948 to 1954 Whitney Tower worked as a sports reporter for the "Cincinnati Enquirer". He then joined the fledgling "
Sports Illustrated " magazine where he served as horse racing editor for twenty-two years during which time he received the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's magazine writing award.Divorced from his first wife, Frances Cheston Train, in 1968 Whitney Tower married Joan Baker Spear, the former wife of [Life] photographer Eliot Elisofon. Tower spent time writing articles in
Aiken, South Carolina , home to the Aiken Steeplechase Association and famous for theflat racing and steeplechase Thoroughbred horses that trained at [http://www.theaikentrainingtrack.com/history.html The Aiken Training Track] . He and his wife decided to make Aiken their home and moved into a mansion built at the beginning of the 20th century by great-grandfather William Collins Whitney. While living there, the couple became instrumental in the creation of theAiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum .In 1976 Whitney Tower founded "Classic" magazine, a publication dedicated to Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing as well as
show jumping events. The magazine reported on horse racing matters not only fromNorth America but from around the world as well and won Media Eclipse Awards in 1976-77. Following the magazine's closure, Tower joined the National Museum of Racing inSaratoga Springs, New York , serving as its president from 1982 to 1989 and for ten years was chairman of the Museum's Hall of Fame committee.Whitney Tower was a resident of Saratoga Springs where he died in 1999 of complications from a
stroke . He was survived by his third wife, Lucy Niblack Lyle, and six children.References
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A02EFDA1538F93AA15756C0A967948260 May 29, 1981 New York Times article on Whitney Tower]
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