Louis A. Thebaud

Louis A. Thebaud (October 24, 1859 – April 2, 1939) was an American businessman, sportsman and philanthropist in the Gilded Age. After working for C. H. Raymond & Co., a contractor of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, for a dozen years, he was caught in a corporate scandal and sued alongside other members of his family. In his retirement, he sponsored sailing races and supported the First World War effort as well as a hospital in New Jersey. Additionally, he introduced Brittany spaniels, a breed of hunting dogs, to the United States, and he was the founding president of the American Brittany Club.

Early life Louis A. Thebaud was born on October 24, 1859, in Orange, New Jersey. His parents were Paul Louis Thébaud and his first wife, born Mathilde Louisa Pillot. He was of French descent. The firm, headed by Charles H. Raymond, was a contractor for the Mutual Life Insurance Company, whose president was his father-in-law. The scandal was described by The Washington Post as a prime example of nepotism.

Thebaud served on the board of directors of the Morristown Trust Company.

Philanthropy Thebaud and his wife made charitable contributions to the American Field Service in France during the First World War. They also supported an all girls' school in Saint-Briac-sur-Mer, Brittany, France. US$100,000 of which were donated specifically by his wife. They also donated an ambulance in 1930. It won the Lipton Trophy in 1930.

Thebaud and Louis de la Fleche co-founded the Brittany Spaniel Club of North America (later known as the American Brittany Club) in 1936. By 1905, McCurdy acquired a 300-acre estate in Morristown, New Jersey from B.O. Canfield in 1905, tore it down, and commissioned the construction of a new mansion called Beauregard.

Death Thebaud died on April 2, 1939, in hospital in Morristown, New Jersey.