Who Plants, Tends

No name has been more bitterly cursed in Wall Street than "Roosevelt." But last week Wall Streeters were reminded that few names have been more venerated in The Street, either. The reminder: the 150th anniversary of Roosevelt & Son, investment management firm long dominated by the Oyster Bay, or non-New Dealing, Roosevelts. *

Roosevelt & Son held a subdued celebration, in keeping with its high-stooled, high-collared conservatism. Top officers greeted clients and friends at a reception in the New York Yacht Club. Guests received copies of a newly published history of the firm entitled The Strenuous Life, the phrase made famous by the most famed of the Oyster Bay Roosevelts.

"Cousin Thee" (as Teddy Roosevelt was known in the family) had relatively little to do with the family business. But Roosevelt & Son had plenty of the strenuous life. Founded by James I. Roosevelt (who later took his son Cornelius into partnership), the firm started out as a hardware shop in Maiden Lane, barely opened its doors before Manhattan was swept by yellow fever. The shop not only survived the epidemic but within a few years was so prosperous that it began dis counting notes for other merchants. This led to other financial activities, and the hardware business was finally abandoned.

Into the Big Time. By 1824, the upS coming Roosevelts were able to help found the Chemical Bank (now the giant Chemical Bank & Trust Co., with which Roosevelts are stillassociated). As a big-time house, Roosevelt & Son helped finance Cyrus Field's first transatlantic cable, floated James J. Hill's first railroad bonds, did battle with Robber Baron Jay Gould.

But the heyday of the firm passed with the 19th Century. Gradually it curtailed its underwriting ventures, concentrated more & more on counseling the owners of large stock-&-bond portfolios. Finally the signature of Franklin D. Roosevelt* on the Banking Act of 1933 forced Roosevelt & Son to give up underwriting and securities dealing altogether.

Now, with the solidest of reputations for giving unbiased advice, the firm still thrives, acting as fiduciary for funds totaling over $100 million. Its present head--and fifth in direct line of descent from the founder--is staid, bespectacled George Emlen Roosevelt, 59, a noted amateur chess player and yachtsman. He will be succeeded ultimately by one of his two sons or five nephews, in the tradition of the family motto: Qui Plantavit Curabit (he who planted will tend).

*Also known as the out-of-season Rs.

* The Oyster Bay and Hyde Park. Roosevelts, all distant cousins to one another, had for a common ancestor Claes Martenszen van Roosevelt, a Dutch trader who came to New Amsterdam around 1648.

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