Sam Pryor Sr. (1865-1934) pictured right

     Born in Palmyra, Missouri, only days after the Civil War ended, Sam Sr. moved to St. Louis as an adult when he went to work for the Wabash Railroad. Marrying Ruby Permelia Jacques in 1894, Sam Sr. started his family in the outskirts of St. Louis in the suburb of Ferguson. Sam Sr.'s career took a variety of turns as he moved from chief purchasing agent of the Wabash Railroad, to vice president of Simmons Hardware Company, to president of the Southern Wheel Company, a subsidiary of the American Brake Shoe and Foundry Company.

     In 1914, he moved his family east as president of Remington Arms Company in New York at a time when war in Europe would bring large contracts to munitions manufacturers. Living for a time on Maple Avenue in Greenwich, Connecticut, the family eventually purchased twenty acres in Field Point Park on the edge of a hill that sloped down to the water's edge. Hiring the architectural firm Cross & Cross, the design of the Pryory had begun.

 

 

 

Sam Pryor Jr. (1898-1986) pictured top and right

     Sam Jr. was born in Ferguson, Missouri, on March 1st, 1898. When his father became the general manager of Remington Arms, the family relocated to Greenwich, Connecticut. Sam Jr., 16 at the time, was sent off to the exclusive prep school, Taft School, with his brother. In 1917, Sam Jr. enrolled in Yale College, where he started relationships that lasted for the rest of his life. Many of his peers at Yale later were high ranking individuals at Pan American Airways.

     After Yale, a trip around the world, and working in the railroad business, Pryor deftly managed the 1940 nomination of presidential candidate Wendell Willkie. Joining fledgling Pan American Airways, he built a global web of airports, making international travel a reality. Always ready for more, he became a special agent of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, taking part in a raid on the group known as the French Connection. In retirement on the island of Maui, surrounded by pet apes and tropical gardens, he established a new national park.

     Whether in politics, aviation, business, crime fighting, or conservation, Sam Jr. carved his own path with outlandish enthusiasm. "Luck doesn't just happen," he told his children, "You make it happen." His lack of pretension and extraordinarily warm personality garnered him a vast array of friendships and the respect of the famous and powerful. His friends, including two-time Olympian Eddie Eagan, champion boxer Gene Tunney, inventor Carbine Williams, explorer Wendell Phillips, showman Robert "Believe It or Not" Ripley, playwright Clare Booth Luce, presidents Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon, and George H.W. Bush, and aviator Charles Lindbergh, all left their respective marks on history.

 

 

 

Sam Pryor III (1928-2014) pictured right

     Sam Pryor III was born in 1928 in Greenwich, Connecticut. He attended Taft School, Yale University, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1953, retiring as a first lieutenant. He joined the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell in 1955, representing foreign governments and investment banking firms, as well as Exxon and Standard Oil of Ohio during the development of the Prudhoe Bay oil field and the construction of the Alaska Pipeline. Long committed to conservation, Sam III served as chairman of the World Rehabilitation Fund, president of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, chairman of the Town of Bedford Open Space Committee, and was a former president of the Appalachian Mountain Club. He had also served as the chairman of the Westchester Land Trust and as a director of the Land Trust Allians, Scenic hudson, and the League of Conservation Voters. He was a trustee of Taft School, a director of Women's eNews, and chair emeritus of the Republican Majority for Choice. He was married to Sally Reese Pryor, and is the father of Samuel F. Pryor IV, Katherine Burgeson, Daniel Pryor, Joseph Pryor, and Edward Pryor.