Anthony R. Kuser was a businessman and philanthropist who built the High Point monument and donated the land that makes up New Jersey's highest point.

He was born in Newark, New Jersey

Newark, New Jersey

Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...

 and moved with his family at age 5 to Trenton, New Jersey

Trenton, New Jersey

Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...

.

In 1889 he was appointed the personal staff of Governor Leon Abbett

Leon Abbett

Leon Abbett was an American Democratic Party politician, and lawyer, who served two separate terms as the 26th Governor of New Jersey, from 1884 to 1887 and from 1890 to 1893. He was a member of the New Jersey General Assembly, New Jersey Senate, a democratic candidate for the U.S...

 where he received a nickname of "Colonel." He would serve in a similar capacity for George T. Werts and John W. Griggs

John W. Griggs

John William Griggs was an American Republican Party politician, who served as the 29th Governor of New Jersey, from 1896 to 1898, stepping down to assume the position as the United States Attorney General from 1898 to 1901....

.

On December 1, 1896, he married Susie Fairfield Dryden, daughter of Senator and Prudential Insurance founder John Fairfield Dryden.

In 1909 he financed the Kuser-William Beebe

William Beebe

William Beebe, born Charles William Beebe was an American naturalist, ornithologist, marine biologist, entomologist, explorer, and author...

 Expedition to study birds in Ceylon, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Burma, the Malay States, Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

, Borneo

Borneo

Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

In 1910 he purchased the High Point Inn from the estate of Charles St. John

Charles St. John

Charles St. John was a U.S. Representative from New York.Born at Mount Hope, New York, St. John attended the common schools and Goshen and Newburgh Academies....

 and proceeded to remodel it into his personal home although he rarely used it.

In 1915 he lent $200,000 to William Fox (producer)

William Fox (producer)

William Fox born Fried Vilmos was a pioneering Hungarian American motion picture executive who founded the Fox Film Corporation in 1915 and the Fox West Coast Theatres chain in the 1920s...

 to establish what would become 20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...

. He would remain on the Fox board until his death.

In 1922 he donated his home at High Point along with 10500 acres (42.5 km²) for a state park. In 1927 he selected an architect to design a memorial on the summit which was to be modeled on the Bunker Hill Monument

Bunker Hill Monument

-External links:****: cultural context**...

. The monument was still under construction when he died. Kuser's mansion at High Point fell into disrepair and was torn down in 1995.

They had two children John Dryden Kuser

John Dryden Kuser

John Dryden Kuser was a New Jersey politician and a member of an influential New Jersey family. The son of Colonel Anthony R. Kuser and Susan Dryden, his father was the President of the South Jersey Gas and Electric Lighting Company and one of the original investors in Fox Movie Studios.Col...

, a New Jersey state senator who was the first husband of Brooke Astor

Brooke Astor

Roberta Brooke Astor was an American philanthropist and socialite who was the chairwoman of the Vincent Astor Foundation, which had been established by her third husband, Vincent Astor, son of John Jacob Astor IV and great-great grandson of America's first multi-millionaire, John Jacob...

 and a younger daughter Cynthia both of whom grew up in this mansion in Bernardsville, New Jersey

Bernardsville, New Jersey

Bernardsville is a borough and affluent suburb in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. Bernardsville has the 10th-highest per capita income in the state. Nationwide, Bernardsville ranks 75th among the 100 highest-income places in the United States...

which still stands.