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Term: Van Dyke, John Henry 1823 - 1909

Definition: lawyer, businessman, philanthropist, b. Mercersburg, Pa. He graduated from Marshall College (1841), studied law in Detroit, Mich., and was admitted to the bar in 1846. In 1846 he moved to Wisconsin, settling in Milwaukee, where he set up a law practice. He was an organizer and trustee (1862-1904) of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., and was its president (1869-1874). Van Dyke was also a director and secretary of the Milwaukee Iron Co., and served in executive capacities with several other Milwaukee business enterprises, as well as being active in the Milwaukee YMCA, the Milwaukee Law Library Association, the Milwaukee Orphan Asylum, Milwaukee College, and the Layton Art Gallery. His son, WILLIAM DUNCAN VAN DYKE, b. Milwaukee, graduated from Princeton Univ. in 1878, was admitted to the bar in 1880, and joined his father's law firm in Milwaukee. He was a trustee (1904-1909), vice-president (1909-1919), and president (1919-1932) of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., was active in many other Milwaukee businesses, and, like his father, was active in Milwaukee civic groups. His brother, GEORGE DOUGLASS VAN DYKE, b. Milwaukee, was also a Princeton graduate (1873), was admitted to the bar in 1876, and became a member of his father's law firm. With his father and brother, he was a pioneer in the development of the Menominee, Mich., iron-mining district; in Milwaukee he was also a director of the First Wisconsin National Bank, the First Wisconsin Trust Co., and the First Wisconsin Co. In 1895 he helped to organize the Milwaukee Hospital Auxiliary, and was its president (1923-1945). J. G. Gregory, Hist. of Milwaukee (4 vols., Chicago, 1931); J. R. Berryman, ed., Bench and Bar of Wis. (2 vols., Chicago, 1898); Wis. Reports, 256 (1951), pp. xliv-liv; Milwaukee Sentinel, Mar. 10, 1909; Milwaukee Journal, Apr. 28, 1949; WPA field notes.