Sherman Pratt


Sherman Pratt was an American sportsman, explorer, and co-founder of Florida's Marineland and the Grenville Baker Boys Club.

Early life

Pratt was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, the second son of George Dupont Pratt and Helen Deming Sherman.
He graduated from Amherst College in 1927, where he played varsity football.

Career

Pratt had ties to RKO pictures, and produced numerous documentary films. Together with W. Douglas Burden, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, and Ilya Tolstoy, he was a co-founder of Marineland of Florida, the world's first oceanarium. He was also a member of the Explorers Club, and the president and founder of the Grenville Baker Boys Club. The Boys Club made annual excursions to the Pratt family camps on Holmes Lake, Canada, which had been constructed by George Dupont Pratt in 1909.
During World War II, he was a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy.

Personal life

In 1942, Pratt married Ethel B. Schniewind, a divorcee, previously married to H. Edward Manville Jr. Pratt had one child, a daughter E. Deming Pratt.
Pratt died of a heart attack and stroke on September 14, 1964, in London, England.