Robert Graves (1866-1931)

He was born in New York City and succeeded his father to become the owner and treasurer of Robert Graves & Co., wallpaper manufacturers. He lived between 171 Park Avenue and his estate at Huntington, L.I. Only indirectly involved with the wallpaper business, he was well-known in society with a reputation for entertaining lavishly. He owned a 260-horsepower yacht and was a motor car enthusiast who entered his Mercedes' in three Vanderbilt Cup races. His garage (see images) at Mineola was reputed to be the largest private garage in the country and was where some of the world's greatest drivers tuned up their engines. After divorcing his third wife in Paris in 1922, he retreated from society and when his sister - Aline, who lived in France at the Hotel Deauville - failed to receive the telephone call that her brother made every morning she alerted the porter in his apartment block who found him slumped behind his desk, having shot himself twice behind the right ear. He divorced his first wife in 1900 before marrying the widow of Henry B. Plant who left him $2-million in her will when she died in 1909. He married his third wife in 1914 and was survived by three children. In his will, he created the Margaret J. Plant-Graves Fund, aka "The Hundred Neediest Cases Fund."