Quick Facts
Biography
Theodore Roosevelt III (June 14, 1914 – May 2, 2001), commonly known as Theodore Roosevelt III (although the fourth to bear the same name), was a banker, government official, veteran of World War II, and the grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt through his father, Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., a politician and World War II military leader, and Eleanor Butler Alexander.
Early life
Theodore III was born on June 14, 1914 in New York City. He was the second born and the last surviving of four children to Theodore Jr./III and Eleanor Butler Alexander. Theodore had an older sister, Grace Green Roosevelt, who married William McMillan, and two younger brothers, Cornelius Van Schaack Roosevelt III and Quentin Roosevelt II. Following his father, Ted, and paternal grandfather, T.R., Theodore went to Groton School and graduated from Harvard in 1936, where he was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals and the Owl Club.
When his grandfather, President Theodore "T.R." Roosevelt, Jr., died in 1919, his father took on the "Junior" last name suffix. As a result, he was known as Theodore, III rather than Theodore IV. As an Oyster Bay Roosevelt, Ted was a descendant of the Schuyler family.His maternal grandparents are Henry Addison Alexander and Grace Green.
Career
After graduating from Harvard, Roosevelt worked for the DuPont company from 1936 to 1941.
Service in World War II
Following the Roosevelt tradition of military service during times of national emergency, during World War II, Roosevelt volunteered as a Navy pilot, serving as a flag lieutenant (i.e. an aide to an admiral) in the Pacific theater. For his service as a naval aviator, Theodore was awarded the Air Medal. He was promoted to lieutenant on April 1, 1944 and left the Navy as a lieutenant commander.
His father, Theodore "Ted" Roosevelt, Jr., also volunteered for service, participated in the Allied invasion of North Africa and lead soldiers at Utah Beach on D-Day in France before dying of a heart attack a month afterward. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
Post-war life
Upon his return from the Pacific Theater, Theodore joined the Philadelphia brokerage firm of Montgomery, Scott, becoming a partner in 1952. Appointed by Governor James Duff, Ted served as Secretary of Commerce of Pennsylvania from 1949 to 1951.
For many years, he was president of the Competitive Enterprise System, Inc., a nonprofit group that promoted free markets in the United States. Roosevelt was a trustee of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) for many years and a generous supporter of the organization. In recent years, he attended TRA Police Awards ceremonies in Boston and Philadelphia as well as TRA annual meetings in Boston and Norfolk, VA. He was an honorary plank owner in the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and a strong supporter of the efforts to preserve the Pine Knot site in Virginia, his grandparents' presidential retreat.
Personal life
On February 3, 1940, Roosevelt married Anne Mason Babcock (December 3, 1917 — January 29, 2001), daughter of George Wheeler Babcock (May 12, 1879 — November 21, 1950) and Anne Mason Bonnycastle Robinson (January 10, 1886 — February 4, 1923). They had one son:
- Theodore Roosevelt IV (born 1942).
Roosevelt died on May 2, 2001 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He and his wife are buried near Somesville, Maine.