century association biographical archive

Earliest Members of the Century Association

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Frederic B. Pratt

Trustee, Pratt Institute

Centurion, 1914–1945

Full Name Frederic Bayley Pratt

Born 22 February 1865 in New York (Brooklyn), New York

Died 3 May 1945 in Glen Cove, New York

Buried Pratt Cemetery, Lattingtown, New York

Proposed by Alexander C. Humphreys and Robert W. de Forest

Elected 5 December 1914 at age forty-nine

Archivist’s Note: Brother of George D. Pratt and Harold I. Pratt; father of Charles Pratt; uncle of Harold Irving Pratt

Century Memorial

Frederick Bayley Pratt. [Born] 1865. Educator; Patron of the Arts.

All of his adult life was devoted to the Pratt Institute, founded by his father, in the capacities of Secretary, Administrative Officer, President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees. But he also found time for other civic, educational and philanthropic interests: He was a member of the Regional Plan of New York, member of the Art Commission of the City of New York, one of the founders of the New York Museum of Science and Industry, Trustee of the American Academy in Rome, Chairman of the Brooklyn Tuberculosis and Health Association for thirty-eight years, for over thirty years Vice-President of the Brooklyn Bureau of Charities. He gave unsparingly of his talents and wealth to his community, especially in the long and patient work of building the Institute which bears the family name, from a beginning with twelve art students to a place of eminence among professional schools in the country. The Pratt Institute motto, “Be true to your work and your work will be true to you,” was his. He was held dear by all sorts and conditions of men.

Source: Henry Allen Moe Papers, Mss.B.M722. Reproduced by permission of American Philosophical Society Library & Museum, Philadelphia

Henry Allen Moe
Henry Allen Moe Papers, 1945 Memorials