F. Skiddy von Stade

Francis Skiddy von Stade (September 4, 1884 – February 19, 1967) was a champion polo player and the president of the Saratoga Association (Saratoga Race Course) from 1943 to 1955.

Early life

Von Stade was born in New York, New York, on September 4, 1884. He was the son of Frederick Hebbert von Stade (1858–1934) and Frances Sarah (née Fischer) von Stade (1859–1888). He received the name "Skiddy" from his maternal grandfather, Francis Skiddy, whose name was also on a Hudson River steamship that Currier & Ives memorably sketched. he was married to Kathryne Nevitt Steele (1896–1981) in the Church of the Advent in Westbury, New York with Harold Stirling Vanderbilt as von Stade's best man. His wife was a daughter of Charles Steele, a prominent lawyer who became a partner in J.P. Morgan & Co. The von Stades eventually took over the Steele residence in Southampton, New York, and commissioned society architects Cross & Cross to build them a home in Old Westbury, next door to her parents, in 1914. They also had a winter home in Aiken, South Carolina and operated a farm in Middleburg, Virginia and a plantation at Millettville in Allendale County, South Carolina. a dean at Harvard University who married Susan Russell (1918–2011) in 1939. Charles Steele von Stade (1919–1945), who was also a polo champion who died fighting in World War II. He married Sara Worthington Clucas in 1941. Dolly von Stade (1921–1998), who married George Herbert Bostwick (1909–1982). George's sister, Lillian Bostwick was married to renowned horseman, Ogden Phipps. Philip von Stade (1928–2004), who married Marjorie Jean Mueller (d. 2018) Kathryne Nevitt von Stade (d. 2007), who married William Haggin Perry (1910–1993) in 1954. They divorced and she later married John Krumpe. John T. von Stade (d. 2021), who served for 50 years as co-chair of the Far Hills Race Meeting Association.

Von Stade died at his home on Powell's Lane in Old Westbury, New York, on February 19, 1967.