Eugene Higgins

Eugene Higgins (1860 – 1948) was the rich heir to a carpet-making business, known as a bon vivant, sportsman, and philanthropist. A bachelor when he died in 1948, his estate went to establish the Higgins Trust, at that time, the eleventh largest of its kind in the United States.

Background

Eugene Higgins was born on January 14, 1860, in New York City. His parents were Elias Smith Higgins (1815–1889), a carpet manufacturer who made a fortune with "labor-saving devices," and Emma Louise Baldwin (1827–1890). In 1882, he graduated from Columbia University, where he was a classmate of future Columbia president Nicholas Murray Butler.

Career

Higgins never worked for a living, though he did maintain a private office at 50 Union Square East. In 1908, his steam yacht the Varuna wrecked off the Madeira Islands; he received a medal for saving the lives of several guests aboard.

A sportsman, Higgins won the 1890 American fencing championship and was a proficient golfer, hunter, fisherman, and yachtsman.

In 1910, he ran into trouble with customs officials.

Personal life and death

Higgins was reputedly the "wealthiest bachelor in New York," ahead of George Washington Vanderbilt II, Mehmet Ali (brother of the Khedive of Egypt), Frank W. Riggs, and members of the Goelet family. He never married. In 1952, his personal secretary asked for $150,000 in recognition of his extra duties as chess and yachting expert. In 1953, the Higgins Estate was valued at more than $40 million ($ in dollars).

Higgins Trust

The Eugene Higgins Scientific Trust ( "Higgins Trust"), also known as the Eugene Higgins Science Fund, was founded upon his death. In 1951, the trust donated another $1 million, shared equally, to Columbia, Harvard, and Princeton universities.

The funds from this trust endowed chairs at Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale universities.

Notable people holding a Eugene Higgins Professorship include:

Thomas Appelquist Peter Cresswell Steven M. Girvin (formerly) Karsten Heeger Michal Lipson Elizabeth L. Paluck Jason Petta

Eugene Higgins Charitable Trust

In 1976, Eugene Higgins Charitable Trust was founded, now based in Providence, Rhode Island.