Joan Whitney Payson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joan Whitney Payson
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| Born |
Joan Whitney
February 5, 1903 New York City, U.S.
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| Died | October 4, 1975 (aged 72) New York City, U.S.
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| Education | Miss Chapin's School |
| Alma mater | Barnard College (1925) Brown University |
| Occupation | Businesswoman sports team owner racehorse owner/breeder art collector philanthropist |
| Spouse(s) |
Charles Shipman Payson
(m. 1924) |
| Children | 5, including Lorinda de Roulet |
| Parent(s) | William Payne Whitney Helen Julia Hay |
| Relatives | See Whitney family |
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Baseball career |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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Joan Whitney Payson (born February 5, 1903 – died October 4, 1975) was an American businesswoman and a very important person in sports and art. She was part of the famous Whitney family. Joan was a co-founder and the main owner of the Major League Baseball team, the New York Mets. She was also the first woman to own a major league sports team in North America without inheriting it.
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Early life and family connections
Joan Whitney was born in New York City. Her parents were William Payne Whitney and Helen Julia Hay. Her brother was John Hay Whitney. She received money from her grandfather, William C. Whitney. When her father passed away in 1927, she inherited a large part of her family's wealth. She went to Miss Chapin's School and later studied at Barnard College and Brown University.
A career in sports and art
Creating the New York Mets
Joan Whitney Payson loved sports, especially baseball. She owned a small part of the New York Giants baseball team. However, she and her husband did not want the team to move to San Francisco in 1957. When most of the other owners decided to move the team, Mrs. Payson sold her shares. She then started working hard to bring a new baseball team to New York City.
She teamed up with M. Donald Grant to create a new team. The National League, one of the major baseball leagues, decided to give a new team to Payson's group. This new team became the New York Mets.
Joan Payson was the team's president from 1962 to 1975. She was very involved in the team's daily activities. The players and staff really admired her. After she passed away, she was honored in the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 1981. She made history as the first woman to buy control of a major sports team in North America, rather than just inheriting it.
She also played a big role in bringing the famous baseball player Willie Mays back to New York City in May 1972.
Passion for horse racing
Joan Whitney Payson also loved thoroughbred horse racing, just like her father and grandfather. This passion was strong throughout the Whitney family. Her family created the famous Whitney Stakes horse race.
After her father died, her mother managed his horse racing stable, Greentree Stable. This stable was in Saratoga Springs, New York, and had a breeding farm in Lexington, Kentucky. In 1932, her mother gave her a young horse named Rose Cross. Joan raced this horse under the name Manhasset Stable. Rose Cross won the 1934 Dwyer Stakes.
Joan Whitney Payson and her brother worked together to run the very successful Greentree stable. They won many important races, including the Kentucky Derby twice, the Preakness Stakes once, and the Belmont Stakes four times.
Collecting amazing art
Joan Payson was also a huge art collector. She bought many different types of artwork. She especially loved Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, drawings, and watercolors. Her collection included works by famous artists like James McNeill Whistler, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, and Henri Matisse. She also strongly supported American artists, buying pieces by Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, and John Singer Sargent.
Payson gave many important artworks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. You can find the "Joan Whitney Payson Galleries" there.
The Joan Whitney Payson Collection is often shown at the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine. It also visits Colby College in Waterville, Maine, for one semester every two years. Parts of her collection are also shown at other museums across the United States.
In 1953, Payson helped start The Country Art Gallery and Art School on Long Island.
Personal life
In 1924, Joan married Charles Shipman Payson. He was a lawyer and businessman from Maine. They had five children together:
- Daniel Carroll Payson (1925–1945)
- Sandra Helen Payson (1926–2004)
- Payne Whitney Payson (born 1927)
- Lorinda Payson (born 1931)
- John Whitney Payson (1940–2016)
Joan Whitney Payson passed away in New York City at the age of 72, shortly after the 1975 baseball season ended. She is buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery in Falmouth, Maine. After her death, her daughter, Lorinda de Roulet, became the president of the New York Mets.
Her family later sold their shares in the Mets in January 1980. They also sold Greentree Farm. In 1991, her son, John Whitney Payson, permanently placed the Joan Whitney Payson Collection at the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine. He also donated seventeen paintings by Winslow Homer to the museum.
Besides the Greentree estate in Manhasset, the family also lived in a large mansion in Manhattan. This home, known as the Payne Whitney House, was a wedding gift from Joan's great uncle.
See also
- Women in baseball
