Uzal Haggerty McCarter (1861-1931)

From Newark's Anniversary Industrial Exposition, 1916.

   A leading financier in Newark, New Jersey, Uzal Haggerty McCarter's career in banking extended nearly fifty years. A founder of the Fidelity Trust Company, McCarter would serve that organization as its secretary, treasurer, and trust officer, and in the early 1900s became its president. McCarter was also a founding member of the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey and had fleeting political involvement in 1904 when he was chosen as a Republican presidential elector. The son of lawyer Thomas Nesbitt McCarter (1824-1901) and the former Mary Louisa Haggerty (1828-1896), Uzal Haggerty McCarter was born in Newton, New Jersey on July 5, 1861.

  Prominent in the political life of Sussex County, Thomas N. McCarter served as collector for the county from 1854-57 and in 1862 was elected to the state assembly, serving one term. He later declined two opportunities to sit on the state supreme court. Political service also beckoned to Uzal McCarter's brother, Thomas Nesbitt Jr. (1867-1955), who for three years was a district court judge for New Jersey. In 1902 he was named state Attorney General and served only a year before resigning.

  Uzal McCarter's education was obtained at the Pingrey School and the Newark Academy and graduated from Princeton University in 1882. After graduation he made his first move into finance, taking a position with Kidder Peabody and Co., a securities firm. In 1887 he left their employ to join the Lombard Investment Co. of New York, and married in January 1889 to Jane Meeker Lewis, to who he was wed until her death. The couple had one daughter, Isabelle Lewis (1890-1959).

   In the same year as his marriage McCarter left Lombard for a position with the Fidelity Title and Deposit Company of Newark. This firm, later known as the Fidelity Trust Company, merged with the Union National Bank to form the Fidelity Union Trust Co. in 1921. McCarter's long affiliation with Fidelity saw him serve as its executive manager, and, later, secretary and treasurer. By 1902 he had succeeded to the presidency of the Fidelity Trust Co., serving in that capacity for many years.

  McCarter achieved further distinction in 1903 when he and his brother Thomas joined to organize the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey. With both brothers aware that major utility companies in the state were facing bankruptcy, a conference of the state's premier financial minds was called, with Thomas McCarter being named to a subcommittee to discuss solving the problem. Uzal McCarter, also attending the conference, "suggested one big company be formed with $10,000,000 cash capital". Thomas, then the attorney general of the state, resigned from office in July to take the presidency of the Public Service Corporation, with Uzal McCarter serving as a member of its board of directors.

  Uzal McCarter's lone foray into New Jersey politics came in 1904 when he became a candidate for Republican presidential elector. At the Republican state convention held that September, both McCarter and famed engineer Washington Augustus Roebling were chosen presidential electors at large. McCarter's election necessitated his resignation as president of the Union National Bank of Newark and was one of twelve electors for Theodore Roosevelt and Charles Fairbanks.

From the Central New Jersey Home News, September 20, 1904.

  Following his time as an elector McCarter continued with the Fidelity Trust Co. and the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey, and in 1909 was reelected to the board of directors of the New Brunswick Trust Company. In 1917, he announced that the Fidelity Trust Co. had purchased a site for an up-to-date banking house, "paying for it $10,000 per front foot, or $660,000 for sixty-six feet." Envisioned as a multi-story structure, the building would be "devoted exclusively to the institution's various departments."

  After the Fidelity Trust Co.'s merger with the Union National Bank, Ual McCarter continued as president, and through the 1920s guided the institution's trajectory, overseeing "a merger policy absorbing one bank after another under the control of the Fidelity, the theory being that each additional bank was self-sustaining." Active in many other areas of public life, McCarter was a founder of the New Jersey Banker's Association and held memberships in the New York Yacht Club, the Newport Golf Club, the Princeton and Banker's Clubs, the Monmouth Boat Club, and The Rumson and Essex Country Clubs. In 1916 McCarter emerged as a leading figure in the 250th anniversary of the founding of Newark, serving as chairman of the committee of 100 for the city's Industrial Exposition held in May-June of that year. 

  In 1928 McCarter made headlines when he announced, that as a lifelong Republican, he would be voting for Democratic candidate Alfred E. Smith in that year's presidential election. In an interview concerning his change of political faith, McCarter remarked:

"I will cast my ballot for Al Smith for President. While I was in some doubt as to whether I would actually vote for Governor Smith after all my years of Republicanism, this doubt was dispelled when I met him at dinner last night. His personality, with its combination of culture and democracy, together with the impression he gives forth of the utmost of integrity and ability, convinced my of his desirability for the presidency. The views which I formed, after listening to Governor Smith's speech of acceptence, were more than confirmed in personal contact." 

   Uzal McCarter continued to be a force in New Jersey financial circles until his death. Having contracted a cold while onboard his yacht, the illness later developed into bronchial pneumonia, which claimed his life at his home in Red Bank on August 15, 1931. He was survived by his wife and daughter and was interred at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Newark. Following his death McCarter was memorialized by the Paterson Morning Call for his "rugged honesty, and his unfailing wit and humor", as well as his philanthropy. It was left for the Call to eulogize him as:

"As the best business getter for his bank; he searched the daily newspapers for leads to new business and no one person in his great banking institution worked harder to bring into the bank new accounts. Attention to small details and a determinatioon and energy to make good, account for the success of Mr. McCarter in whose death New Jersey loses her greatest banker."