[pilowsky]

It's 226 years since Cornelius Vanderbilt was born.

Cornelius Vanderbilt was born on May 27 1794. He was not a nice man and he despised women. He was also pretty tight with money. Nevertheless, he did leave a little of his huge fortune to his wife and daughters although the main beneficiaries were his male heirs.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cornelius-Vanderbilt-1794-1877

Harold (Mike) Vanderbilt was the great-grandson of the misogynistic railroad tycoon, and as we know also seems to have harboured a dislike for women since he stole the term 'vulnerable' from a female passenger on the SS Finland when Contract Bridge was apparently formalised. The identity of this woman remains unknown to this day. The irony of her providing the term vulnerable to the game and then being taken advantage of has not escaped me. I have no idea if this Vanderbilt was a nice person or not. Rich people write history. Reading between the lines it seems unlikely. He left us a wonderful game, but I am glad that we are more tolerant of all members of society in the modern era. Or so it appeared until quite recently.

For what its worth, Harold was born in 1884, 90 years after Grandpa, and died on July 4 1970 - 50 years ago.

This article was published in the NY Times July 12 1964. I won't reproduce the whole lot - here's the first paragraph.

"HAROLD S. VANDERBILT, the father of contract bridge, celebrated his 80th birthday last Monday. He earned world‐wide renown as a yachtsman, winning the America's Cup three times, but his most enduring fame is likely to come from his contributions to bridge."