Charles R. Gay

Charles Richard Gay (September 14, 1875 – March 23, 1946) was an American banker who served as president of the New York Stock Exchange.

Early life Gay was born in Brooklyn on September 14, 1875. He was a son of Charles Abram Gay and Anna Mitchell (née Campbell) Gay.

He was educated at Brooklyn Public School 35 before attending Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute In 1919, he merged his firm (then known as Charles R. Gay & Co.) with Whitehouse & Co., was reportedly the oldest firm on the Exchange.

In 1935, when he was senior partner at Whitehouse & Co. (with offices on the 20th floor of 1 Wall Street), he was elected president of the Exchange, succeeding Richard Whitney. Gay served three terms as president, retiring in May 1938. He was president during a trying time for the Exchange and financial markets and often traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with the Securities and Exchange Commission and to participate with Senate inquiries.

After his tenure as president of the Exchange, he became the head of Winthrop, Whitehouse & Co., a longtime securities firm established in 1828. Together, Jennie and Charles were the parents of one son:

William Campbell Gay, who was also a member of the New York Stock Exchange and who lived in Halesite on Long Island.

He was a trustee of the Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and St. Mark's Methodist Episcopal Church of Brooklyn and a member of the board of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the Flatbush Boys Club and the YMCA A memorial was held for Gay at Trinity Church in Manhattan.