John William Sterling (May 12, 1844 - July 5, 1918) was a philanthropist, corporate attorney, and major benefactor to Yale University.
Biography
John William Sterling was born in Stratford, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in 1864 and was admitted to the bar three years later. He obtained an M.A. degree in 1874 and an LL.D. from Columbia Law School in 1893. He became a corporate lawyer in New York, and helped found the law firm of Shearman & Sterling in 1873. Around 1870, Sterling met James Orville Bloss (b. September 30, 1847; d. December 15, 1918), his intimate friend for the next fifty years. Historian Jonathan Ned Katz suggests that theirs was also a sexual relationship. (For a detailed account with photos see: http://www2.outhistory.com/cgi-bin/iowa/events/event/6.html. For a briefer account with photos see http://www.yale.edu/lesbiangay/Pages/Archive/PNB7.html.) As a lawyer, Sterling represented Jay Gould, James Fisk, the National city bank of new york, and Standard Oil. Sterling's partner Thomas G. Shearman defended Reverend Henry Ward Beecher in his adultery trial. On his death in 1918 at Estevan Lodge in Quebec Canada, Sterling left $18 million to Yale, at the time the largest non-founding contribution made by an individual to a private university -- equivalent to about $180 million in 2003. A portion of this was used to fund the Sterling Professorships, and other portions were used to build the Sterling Memorial Library, Sterling Law Buildings, Sterling Divinity Quadrangle, Sterling Chemistry Laboratory, the School of Medicine, Trumbull College, and the Hall of Graduate Studies. Sterling is entombed at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Sterling House
Sterling House is a Romanesque mansion built in 1886, in the heart of downtown Stratford, CT. It is on the Sterling Homestead, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 1, 1976. In its early days it was the home of the Sterling family. The mansion was designed by architect Bruce Price of New York, who also designed Osborne Hall and Welch Hall at Yale University. His sister, Cordelia (b. March 18, 1846; d. January 1931), donated the house and its surrounding estate to the town as a park upon her death in 1931. Since 1932, Sterling House has been known as Sterling House Community Center, running a variety of events, functions, and public service programs for Stratford's community, ranging from day camps for children, to educational programs, sports events, addiction support programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous, and others.
