Percy Rivington Pyne was a banker, financier, and philanthropist.

He was born in 1857 in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, the son of Percy Rivington Pyne

Percy Pyne

Percy Rivington Pyne was a President of City National Bank.He was born in England to Anna and Thomas Rivington Pyne and attended Christ's Hospital. He moved to the U.S. in 1835 and joined Moses Taylor & Co., becoming a partner in 1842. In 1855 he married Taylor's daughter Albertina. Their...

 (1820-1895) and Albertina Shelton (Taylor) Pyne. His maternal grandfather was Moses Taylor

Moses Taylor

Moses Taylor was a 19th century New York merchant and banker and one of the wealthiest men of that century. At his death, his estate was reported to be worth $70 million, or about $ billion in today's dollars. He controlled the National City Bank of New York , the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western...

, founder of the First National City Bank of New York

Citibank

Citibank, a major international bank, is the consumer banking arm of financial services giant Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, later First National City Bank of New York...

 and a stockholder in the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad

Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad

The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company was a railroad connecting Pennsylvania's Lackawanna Valley, rich in anthracite coal, to Hoboken, New Jersey, , Buffalo and Oswego, New York...

. His older brother, Moses Taylor Pyne

Moses Taylor Pyne

Moses Taylor Pyne , was a financier and philanthropist, and one of Princeton University's greatest benefactors and most influential Trustees....

, inherited much of the family fortune and was a major benefactor of Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

.

Pyne received a B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree from Princeton in 1878 and an M.A.

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 degree in 1881. On June 20, 1889, he married Maud Howland (b. May 17, 1866), daughter of New York merchant Gardiner Greene Howland. Maud's brother Dulany Howland married Marguerite McClure, who later remarried Ogden H. Hammond

Ogden H. Hammond

Ogden Haggerty Hammond was an American businessman, politician and diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Spain from 1925 to 1929...

, the father of Millicent Fenwick

Millicent Fenwick

Millicent Hammond Fenwick was an American fashion editor, politician and diplomat. A four-term Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey, she entered politics late in life and was renowned for her energy and colorful enthusiasm...

.

He began his business career under the tutelage of Moses Taylor, serving as a partner in the firm of Moses Taylor & Co. He would follow in his grandfather's footsteps, becoming director of the National City Bank as well as manager of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.

In New York City, Pyne and his family lived at 680 Park Avenue

Park Avenue (Manhattan)

Park Avenue is a wide boulevard that carries north and southbound traffic in New York City borough of Manhattan. Through most of its length, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east....

 at the corner of East 68th Street, now home to the Americas Society

Americas Society

The Americas Society is an organization dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue in the Americas; established in 1965 by David Rockefeller. The Americas Society promotes the understanding of the economic, political, and cultural issues that define and challenge the Americas today, including...

. In 1899, he built the mansion Upton Pyne 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...

 as a summer home. It was named after Upton Pyne

Upton Pyne

Upton Pyne is a parish and village in Devon, England. The parish lies just north west of Exeter, mainly between the River Exe and River Creedy. The village is located north of Cowley and west of Brampford Speke and Stoke Canon.-History:...

 in Devon, England, his family's ancestral manor. It was the largest mansion in the area until it was destroyed by fire in 1982.

Percy and Maud Pyne had five children: Grafton Howland Pyne (b. August 11, 1890), Herbert Rivington Pyne (b. January 16, 1892), Mary Percy Pyne (b. November 27, 1893), Percy Rivington Pyne Jr. (b. November 9, 1896), and Meredith Howland Pyne (b. October 5, 1898).

Pyne died at his Bernardsville home in 1929 at the age of 72.