Anthony Nicholas Brady (August 22, 1841 – July 22, 1913) was an American businessman who amassed great wealth and at one time was the largest shareholder in the
American Tobacco Company.
At nearly age 16, he first began working at the Delevan Hotel in
Albany, New York,[4] and by age 19, he went into business for himself, opening a
tea store that he soon expanded with other outlets, "practically controll[ing] the trade in that city and in Troy".[3] 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 as the Albany Gas Light Company.[5] Later he was a dominant figure in the transportation systems of several American cities including
Philadelphia and
Washington, D.C., plus that of Paris.[4] 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.[4]
On August 20, 1867, Brady was married to Marcia Ann Myers (1847–1921), the daughter of a prominent
Vermont jurist,[7] with whom he had six children, two sons and four daughters. She was an
Episcopalian and the children were raised in that faith (although their son Nicholas converted to Catholicism before his 1906 wedding).[8]
Flora Brady (1877–1912), who married Erastus Palmer Gavit, the secretary and treasurer of the Municipal Gas Company who was a grandson of
Erastus Dow Palmer.[9]
Brady died in 1913 at the
Hotel Carlton in London while on a business trip.[3] His remains were brought back to the United States where he was interred at the
Roman CatholicSaint Agnes Cemetery in
Menands, New York. He is considered to have been one of the 100 wealthiest Americans, having left an enormous fortune,.[15]
After his death, his sons, James and Nicholas, continued to successfully operate his vast business empire. In 1923, however, a family feud erupted when two of their sisters took them to court, charging irregularities in the management of their father's estate.[16] After years of litigation, the suit was finally dismissed in 1924.[17]