McKittrick, Thomas H. (Thomas Harrington)

Biography

American-born banker Thomas Harrington McKittrick (1889-1970) spent the greater part of his professional life in Europe. He is noted for serving as president of the Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlements throughout World War II.

Harrington was born in St. Louis, the son of Thomas Harrington and Hildegarde Sterling McKittrick. Graduating from Harvard in 1911, he began his banking career in St. Louis. He joined the National City Bank of New York in 1916, assigned to assist in opening a branch of the bank in Genoa. After service with the American Expeditionary Force in Europe (1918-1919) McKittrick spent two years in the New York office of Lee, Higginson & Company. In 1922 he transferred to Lee, Higginson’s London affiliate, Higginson & Company, becoming a partner in 1924. Higginson & Company shut down most of its operations in 1939, ending McKittrick’s association with the firm. Later that year he was elected president of the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, remaining in that position until 1946.

The Bank for International Settlements, founded in 1930, is a central banking institution, owned and controlled by the central banks of a number of industrialized nations. It’s primary purposes are, according to Article 3 of its original Statutes, “to promote the co-operation of central banks and to provide additional facilities for international financial operations…”

On leaving the B.I.S. in 1946, McKittrick joined The Chase National Bank in New York, where he remained until his “retirement” in 1954. Later he traveled to India for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development as well as becoming president and chairman of the Continental American Fund Incorporated until reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 in 1959.

McKittrick married Marjorie Benson in 1921. They had four children: Marjorie Sterling, Elisabeth Benson, Mary and Frances Anne.

Found in 1 Collection or Record: