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Anthony N. Brady

Anthony Nicholas Brady (August 22, 1841–July 22, 1913) was an American businessman born in Lille, France, to an Irish family, whose family emigrated to Troy, New York, in 1857. Settling in Albany, New York, he was first employed by a local barber and at age 19 went into business for himself, opening a tea store that he soon expanded with other outlets. He went on to become a politically astute transportation magnate, who used his genius at consolidation to acquire control of Brooklyn Rapid Transit as well Albany Gas Light Company. Later he was a dominant figure in the transportation systems of several American cities including Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., plus that of Paris. [1] Brady would acquire significant investments in a substantial number of companies and was the largest shareholder and a director of American Tobacco Company by 1900, and successor companies (Consolidated Tobacco Company) in subsequent years.Anthony Brady married Marcia Ann Myers from Vermont with whom he had six children. She was an Episcopalian and the children were raised in that faith.Brady partnered with leading East Coast business tycoons such as Thomas Edison, William C. Whitney, P. A. B. Widener and Thomas F. Ryan in various business ventures including the Electric Vehicle Co., initially a motorized taxicab business that evolved into Maxwell Automobile Co..Anthony N. Brady died in 1913 at the Carlton Hotel, London, while on a business trip. [2] His remains were brought back to the United States where he was interred in the Roman Catholic Church Saint Agnes Cemetery in Menands, New York. He is considered to have been one of the 100 wealthiest Americans, having left an enormous fortune,. His sons, James Cox Brady (1882–1927) and Nicholas Frederic Brady (1878–1930), continued to successfully operate the vast business empire but in 1923 a family feud erupted when their three sisters took them to court, charging irregularities in the management of their father's estate. [3] After years of litigation, the suit was finally dismissed in 1924. [4]Anthony N. Brady was the great grandfather of Nicholas F. Brady, a former U.S. Senator from New Jersey, and United States Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.