Edgar F. Luckenbach

When Edgar Luckenbach joined his father's company, the business was strictly for towing boats on the Hudson River. It then grew to include salvage and clipper ships, and finally Luckenbach began to acquire steamships. When Lewis Luckenbach died in 1906, his son succeeded him as president and moved the company to 120 Wall Street in Manhattan. At that time, his ships sailed all over the world, engaging in trade.[1]

After the First World War, Luckenbach decided it was in the best interest of the company to focus on domestic trade. He established terminal facilities throughout the United States, including in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Mobile and Galveston.

Luckenbach was also a strong advocate of Federal control of shipping rates.[1]

The company played a large role in ship operations during both world wars. A claim Edgar Luckenbach liked to make was that his ships shuttled more soldiers between America and Europe than any other steamship company. Four Luckenbach ships were sunk during the First World War, and a fifth was crippled so that it had to be towed back to shore.

During World War II, the Luckenbach Steamship Co. was once again called into action by the military. At the onset of the war, the company had twenty-three ships. Luckenbach ships ferried soldiers between Europe and the United States again throughout the war.[1]

Luckenbach was very active in club affairs. He was a member of the Atlantic Yacht Club, Sands Point Bath Club, New York Yacht Club, the Turf and Field Club, the United Hunts Club and the Everglades Club of Palm Beach.[1]

In business, he was a member of the Maritime Association of the Port of New York, the Commerce and Industry Association of New York and the New York Produce Exchange. He was elected president of the American Steamship Owners Association in 1927, but refused the post because of his busy business.[1]

He was also an avid horseman. His saddle mare, Lucky Nira, won many horse shows throughout the 1920s and 1930s. His third wife, Andrea, also held many horse shows at their country estate.

After months of declining health, Edgar F. Luckenbach died at his estate, Elm Court, in Sands Point, New York, on April 26, 1943. He was 75 years old.

A few years after his death, the 104 acres (0.42 km²) Elm Court estate was put up for auction. It consisted of a 22-room main house, a 12-room dwelling, a 4-room cottage, a 7-room house and two 8-room homes. Also on the estate were a six-car and a four-car garage, greenhouses, orchards, a chicken coop and a bathhouse on the beach.[2] The estate later became the campus of Sands Point Country Day School, also known as Sands Point Academy, a school for gifted children, which operated there from 1954 to 1973.