Cornelius Newton Bliss was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was president of the Associated Merchants and United Dry Goods companies.
Background
Cornelius Bliss was born on April 13, 1874, in New York City, New York, United States, the only surviving son of the four children of Cornelius Newton Bliss and Elizabeth M. (Plumer) Bliss; the second of his two older sisters, Lizzie Plumer Bliss (1864 - 1931), was one of the founders of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. His father had come to New York in the 1860's from Fall River, Massachussets, and engaged successfully first in the manufacture of textiles, then in the wholesale dry-goods business. The elder Bliss was also active in Republican politics, serving as secretary of the interior in 1897-1898 under President William McKinley.
Education
Cornelius Bliss was educated at the Cutler School and then at Harvard, from which he received his B. A. in 1897.
Career
Cornelius entered his father's business, Bliss, Fabyan and Company, and was made a partner in 1899. Bliss had a solid business career, achieving election as president of the Associated Merchants and United Dry Goods companies in 1914, becoming a director of the Banker's Trust in 1916, a board member of the Radio Corporation of America in 1927, and remaining prominent in Bliss, Fabyan until it closed in 1940.
Bliss's most important contributions, however, were in philanthropy. In 1920 he became associated with the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, serving as president from 1913-1934. In this period the association was moving from marginal role to obsolescence among the city's philanthropic organizations. Bliss was aware of the need for new measures and sources of funds to relieve suffering. In 1931, at the depth of the depression, he chaired a commission, appointed by Mayor James J. Walker, to administer a $15 million relief fund. He remained committed to the idea that private charity had a role to play in relief for the unemployed. He supported block committees for mutual help and campaigned to raise money for relief. From 1938, Bliss served as vice-president of the Community Service Society of New York, an organization seeking to provide social service to poor and helpless citizens whose cash needs were met from public relief. Bliss was also active in the American Red Cross in both world wars.
Bliss's involvement with music and the visual arts began later in life, but became his most important philanthropic achievement. In the 1920's he was active in the company that owned the Metropolitan Opera House. In 1933, after joining the board of the Metropolitan Opera Company, he chaired the first national campaign for funds to sustain the organization in the midst of the depression. He was elected chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Opera Association in 1938 and was responsible for publishing its first detailed financial statement in 1942. He also served as a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in the 1930's. Bliss died of undisclosed causes, after an illness of ten days, in New York City, on April 5, 1949, and was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Achievements
Cornelius Bliss' greatest achievement was his measured mediation between the worlds of business and philanthropy. He divided his concerns between the poor and the fine arts. Bliss served as president of the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor and chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Opera Association. With help of these and many other organisations he helped people to overcome depression and suffering. Not a dominant figure, he nevertheless helped to establish public-spiritedness rather than self-indulgence as a model for others of his class.
Religion
Throughout his life, Bliss was a member of the Episcopalian Church.
Politics
Bliss was a member of the Republican party. His political career was substantial. After serving as an alternate delegate to the National Republican Convention in 1916, Bliss became national treasurer of the Republican party during the campaign of Charles Evans Hughes for the presidency in 1916. His father had also been national treasurer. In 1920 he endorsed Gen. Leonard Wood for the presidency, and thereafter limited his political activities to the Republican party in New York state.
Connections
On April 26, 1906, Bliss married Zaidee C. Cobb of Washington, D. C. They had three children: Elizabeth Addison, Cornelius Newton, Jr. , and Anthony Addison.
