MacFarlane, Walter Kilgore Jr. (1900-1992)
Role: class of 1923, benefactor of Macfarlane HouseDates: 1923-1992
Portrait Location: MacFarlane 102
Artist: Doris Howard Loney (1902-1970)
Portrait Date: ca. 1950
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions:
Framed Dimensions:
Brown Portrait Number: 236
Brown Historical Property Number: 772
Walter Kilgore Macfarlane, Jr was a Brown alumnus in the class of 1923, a prominent banker, and the winner of the Brown Bear Award for his outstanding commitment to the University. Macfarlane House, which houses Brown's Classics Department at 48 College Street, is named after him.
Walter Kilgore Macfarlane, Jr. was born in Seattle on August 8, 1900. A member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity at Brown, he earned a Bachelor of Philosophy.
After Graduation, he first worked for the Puritan Life Insurance Company, and then was a salesman for H.H. Robertson & Company, in Pittsburgh, PA. From 1930 to 1933, he served as executive vice-president for Van Strum Financial Service, he then became vice-president of H.M. Gartley, Inc in 1933. From 1942 to 1953 he served as president of the former Schenectady Savings Bank and later became the president of Buffalo Savings Bank in Buffalo. In 1960, he became a principal founder of the Guaranty Bank, later called Citibank of Arizona.
Macfarlane demonstrated a lifetime of commitment to public service. He served as president of Schenectady's City Hospital, the Children's Home, the Associated Hospital Service of the Capital District, and the Ingersoll Memorial Home for Aged Men. He was vice chairman of the Schenectady Red Cross and a member of the Schenectady Chamber of Commerce, the Mohawk Club and Mohawk Golf Club, and the Newcomen Society of North America. His generosity to his undergraduate alma mater resulted in Brown naming the Classics department offices at 48 College Street "Macfarlane House."
Macfarlane was married to Elizabeth Chase Kerr MacFarlane. Mrs. Macfarlane died in 1991. Mr. Macfarlane died on May 16, 1992. The portait was painted by Doris Howard Loney, ca. 1950.