Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.

Who was Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.?

Theodore "Thee" Roosevelt, Sr. was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was also the father of President Theodore Roosevelt and the paternal grandfather of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. He was a fourth-generation Dutch New Yorker and participant in the Roosevelt family business of plate-glass importing, Roosevelt and Son.

Theodore Sr. helped found the New York City Children's Aid Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and the New York Children's Orthopaedic Hospital. A participant in the dazzling New York society life, he was described by one historian as a man of both "good works and good times." In December 1877 he was nominated to be Collector of the Port of New York but was rejected by the U.S. Senate.