Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney

Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, known as Sonny (1899 to 1992), was an American businessman, film producer, government official and philanthropist who also played polo and owned a prominent stable of Thoroughbred racehorses. Born in Old Westbury, New York, the only son of Harry Payne Whitney and Gertrude Vanderbilt, he inherited a large fortune and graduated from Yale in 1922. Following his father into equine sports, he won the U.S. Open polo title three times, and his stable produced horses such as Equipoise, Top Flight and Counterpoint, with Phalanx and Counterpoint each winning the Belmont Stakes. Outside sport he backed the Aviation Corporation of America that became Pan American World Airways, chaired the Hudbay mining company until 1964, produced the film The Searchers, and served as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force from 1947 to 1949.