Junius Spencer Morgan II


Junius Spencer Morgan II was a banker, art collector and nephew of John Pierpont Morgan, Sr.

Early life

Morgan was born on June 5, 1867 in Irvington, New York to George Hale Morgan and Sarah Spencer Morgan, distant cousins. His younger sister was Caroline Lucy Morgan, a philanthropist, who never married. His mother and her brother, John Pierpont Morgan, were two of the five children born to Junius Spencer Morgan, his grandfather, and Juliet Pierpont, the daughter of John Pierpont.
He attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, class of 1884, and graduated from Princeton University with the class of 1888.

Career

He was a banker and a partner in the firm of Cuyler, Morgan & Co. and retired in 1906.

Philanthropy

Morgan was a generous benefactor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and gave many works to the Department of Drawings and Prints from a broad range, dating mainly from the sixteenth century, including 2 woodblocks and many prints by Albrecht Dürer in 1919. Some of his other graphic works were sold at Anderson Galleries, New York, February 18, 1921.
Morgan was also a generous donor to his alma mater. When a student, he started collecting early editions of the Latin poet Virgil, a collection he gave to the Princeton University Library in 1896, adding new volumes every year until his death in 1932.
In January 1932, he was awarded the Order of the Crown of Italy by Signor Comandante Emanuele Grazzi, the Italian Consul General.

Personal life

Morgan was married to Josephine Adams Perry, the daughter of Brig. Gen. Alexander James Perry and Josephine Adams, and the granddaughter of Nathaniel Hazard Perry, the brother of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry and youngest son of Christopher Raymond Perry. From 1892 to 1897, they lived in Rye at the Jay Estate, where their first child was born. Together, they had:
On August 18, 1932, Morgan died of a heart attack in Valmont, Switzerland, while with his sister Caroline. His funeral was held at the American Cathedral Church of the Trinity in Paris, and he was buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery. The bulk of his estate was left to his two children.