Roland L. Redmond

Roland Livingston Redmond (September 13, 1892 – April 20, 1982) He was the second son of Geraldyn Redmond (1854–1918) and Estelle Maud (née Livingston) Redmond (1860–1916). His brothers were Johnston Livingston Redmond and Geraldyn Livingston Redmond. In New York, the Redmonds lived at 701 Fifth Avenue, next door to their aunt at 705 Fifth Avenue, in what was disguised by McKim, Mead & White as a single French limestone mansion. and was one of the founders of the Union Club. His maternal grandparents were Johnston Livingston and Sylvia Mathilde (née Livingston) Livingston. In 1902, his mother and aunt, Countess Carola de Laugier-Villars, built St. Sylvia Church in Tivoli, in memory of Redmond's maternal grandmother.

Redmond attended Harvard University and after graduation in 1915 (cum laude), attended Columbia Law School where he obtained his Juris Doctor in 1917.

Career From May 12, 1917, to March 2, 1919, he served in the U.S. Army, obtaining the rank of 1st Lieutenant, Field Artillery. Redmond was a member of the Plattsburg Movement and attended Officers Training Camp. After sailing to France, he was detailed to the Artillery School at Fontainebleau and Gondrecourt. Beginning in 1918, he took part in the Battle of Château-Thierry, was transferred to the 306th Field Artillery and fought in the Oise-Aisne and the Meuse-Argonne Offensives. After his return from War, he was admitted to the bar in 1919. For a time, he was Vincent Astor's personal attorney. Redmond served as president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was a "trustee, elective and emeritus, for 48 years, a record for a Met trustee." While president, two directors worked underneath him, Francis Henry Taylor and James Rorimer, and a massive expansion program that took place between 1951 and 1954, and involved nearly the entire reconstruction of the existing building and modernization of the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium.

The most popular exhibition while he was president was in 1963 when the Mona Lisa was on display for one-month. His tenure was also marked by several attacks from artists who felt the museum was opposed to contemporary art, which "Redmond did not take pains to conceal his own lack of sympathy with a good deal of modern art."

Personal life On June 5, 1915, Redmond was married to Sara Delano (1894–1984) at St. Sylvia's Memorial Church with a reception held at the Delano country estate, Steen Valetje. Sara was the youngest daughter of coal tycoon Warren Delano and Jennie (née Walters) Delano. Her mother was the daughter of William Thompson Walters, a merchant and art collector, and the niece of Henry Walters, who formed the Walters Art Museum. Through her namesake aunt Sara Delano Roosevelt, Sara was a first cousin of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. They had a home in New York City, at 760 Fifth Avenue (and later at 350 Fifth Avenue), Sheila Delano Redmond (d. 2000), who married Malcolm D. Perkins in 1944. Joan Walters Redmond (1919–1995), who married Curtis Seaman Read. Cynthia Redmond, who married Maj. Peter Somes Hopkins in 1946. She later married Donald E. Mead.

In 1916, upon the death of his mother, he inherited $75,000 (equivalent to $ today) outright and an interest in the trust set up for the remainder of her estate, valued between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000. 1925, he inherited his aunt's home at Tivoli-on-the-Hudson upon her death, along with a legacy in excess of $200,000 (equivalent to $ today). and they married in Palm Beach on December 2, 1957. Lydia, the daughter of Commendatore Gen. Alessandro Bodrero, was the mother of two children, Edith Carpenter Macy (b. 1927) (the wife of Friedrich Karl von Schönborn-Buchheim), from her first marriage to Valentine E. Macy Jr., and Montino Bourbon del Monte, Prince di San Faustino (b. 1942), from her second marriage to Ranieri Bourbon del Monte, Prince di San Faustino. Ranieri was a son of Carlo Bourbon del Monte, Prince di San Faustino and brother to Virginia Bourbon del Monte, wife of industrialist Edoardo Agnelli.

Redmond died on April 20, 1982, at his home in Tivoli.

Honors and legacy Redmond was awarded the Legion of Honor from France as well as decorations from the Netherlands (as Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau) and Denmark.