New-York tribune., 1902-12-11
HEBER r. BISHOP DEAD.
He Succumbs to Heart Disease at
HIS Home an This Cty.

Heber R. Bishop died at his home, No. ss1
Fifth-ave, last evening from heart disease. He
had been i'll about month. The close was
peaceful and without pain All the members
of Mr.. Bishops family were present The 1u-
i neral arrangements will be announced later
! Heber Reginald Eishop. member of an old
! Massachusetts family of English descent, ana
son of Nathaniel Holmes Bishop, was born at
Medford, Mass, on March . 1S4o The hfst
member of his family came from Ipswich IN
England. the Colony of Massachusetts IN
1885, and the family was long settled in Med
! ford In 11I6 of the descendants had al
ready appeared in Harvard
! Mr. Bishop received his first business training
/ in Boston: and having become familiar there with
the sugar business he went to Remedies on the
/ south coast of Cuba, in December, 1888 to enter
upon it. in d region of great sugar productlon'
! Precisely days after he attained his ma
| jority. on March f. 1861, he was able to estap-t
ish at Remedies the sugar refining and export
ing house of Bishop CO. He continued
| to live on the spot, though with frequent bus-
ness trips back to the United States, and sue
| ceeded in building up large and prosperous
business. BY the time the insurrection OF 1870
had been in progress two three years, his
fifteen years work had developed the small
capital with which he began into what was for
those times a large fortune. He saw, however
that with the disorders which attended the
instruction. his business was too exposed TO
be continued with advantage. He converted
what he could into cash, but was compelled
to sacrifice his large warehouses and a great
portion of his permanent investment and re-
turn to the United States.
In 1862 he was married to Miss Mary Cunning
ham, second daughter of James Cunningham, or
Irvington-on the Hudson. He now establlsheo
summer home near his father-fn-law's family
and presently became largely interested in rail-
road gas. iron and other properties. for the man.
agement of which the business qualifications
he had conspicuously shown in Boston ana
Cuba and the business friendships he had made
commended him. In connection with Benjamin
Brewster and others he formed a combination
for the construction of the Third Avenue Ele-
waited Railroad and, when it was finished, at
time seemed likely to take the con-
troll of it. His attention was. however, di-
verted to Western interests, and he soon became
a director in the st. Paul, Minneapolis and
Omaha Railroad, the Chicago, Rock Island and
Pacific Railroad, and the Duluth and Iron Range
Railroad. To the business of all these he gave
closer personal attention than is always the
habit of Eastern directors, and was thus enabled
to become early familiar with the great oppor-
tunites for iron production in the northern part
of Minnesota He became of the organizers
of the iron properties in the vicinity of Duluth
and was ultimately director In the Minnesota
Iron in the Chandler Iron. In the Lackawanna
Iron and Steel and in the new Lackawanna steel
companies. He also director of the Metro
politan Trust Company and identified with other
corpora tions. His business sagacisJ was gem
orally recognized and his high integrity as well
as keen attention to business led 90 many oppor-
tunities and generally successful career.
The same industry and keen attention were
manifested in his relation to churches and chari-
ties. He at one time very active IN the re-
orga nization of the Forty-second Street Presby-
terian Church and in the Presbyterian Hospital
He became a director of the Metropolitan Mu-
scum of Natural History and of the Metro
politan Museum of Art. and he one of the
most generous contributors to the latter fnstftu-
ton. He had recently presented it with a collec-
ton of jades and other hard stones, valued at
about S15O0DO and had undertaken to construct
in the Museum suitable room for the arrange
rnent and display of the collection. He had pre-
viouslv given unusual attention to objects of art
in many different genres such old silver. blue
and white china and porceains generally. pict-
ures japanese bronzes. lacquers. etc During MS
travels in the East his attention was directed
particularly to Chinese and Japanese jades. AL
ter collecting largely in Oriental countries. he
commenced watching his opportunities for Sc
curing the best specimens that had previously
fallen into European hands. The collection thus
grew until it to be the largest III the world
superior even to that In the British Museum
and he began to be recognized as one of the
greatest living experts on the subject
Beginning his collection originally for the
gratifcation merely Of his own tastes he finally
felt that it was too large and important TO be
kept from the public: and he undertook. there
fore years ago, the work of preparing it to be |
presented as a whole to the Metropolitan Mu-
ee,rn for the benefIt of the community at large.
Next he undertook the compilation of cata- |
logue which should be authoritative and ex- |
haustive and devoted large part Of his time 10 |
the work He also employed Chinese and Jap |
anese workmen and supervised their labors |
Finally he placed experts in charge of the MIN |
cralogfcal and archaeological side OF the WORK. |
and at times had staff of more than ooHeh |
men engaged on the catalogue. Other experts |
were in charge of the drawings engravings |
and historical data The book was completed |
some little time ago. 1t embraces pictures
of all the more important gems. likes the
dates. gives details of style with historic par |
ticulars and thus furnishes large ana I'M
portant contribution to the knowledge of ORR |
entail art 1t will rank among the most costly |
and authoritative catalogues of the kind known |
to the museums of the world. 1t is now passing |
through the press, but is not to be sold 1t VIII |
he distributed only by presentation to important
institutions having the facilities for utilizing IT,
Mr. Bishop was a member of the Metropolitan
Union Union League, New-York Yacht' CITY,
Century, Grolier and many other CLUBS oI iate
xeare he had been less active in business and |
had spent more of his time in travel ana reciea-
tion One of his daughters lived IN FRANCE anu
this led him to spend a good deal OF MS time on
the Continent. He retained to singular uesIee
the elasticity and spirit of his youth, the love of
Il he a