Robert Moses Biography

Robert Moses was an American public official born December 18, 1888, and died July 29, 1981. Worked mainly in the metropolitan area of New York. Known as the “master builder” of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris and was one of the most polarizing figures in the history of urban development in the United States.

His decisions favoring highways over public transit helped create the modern suburbs of Long Island and influenced a generation of engineers, architects, and urban planners who spread his philosophies across the nation despite not having trained in those professions. Moses would call himself a “coordinator” and be called a “master builder” in the media.

10 Quick Facts About Robert Moses

Here is a list of 10 facts about Moses

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• Name: Robert Moses
• Age At Time Of Death: 92 Years Old
• Date of Death: July 29, 1981
• Cause of Death: Heart disease
• Date of Birth: December 18, 1888
• Nationality: American
• Occupation: Public Official
• Marital Status: was married to Mary Alicia Grady
• Salary: Not Available
• Net worth: $50,000

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Robert Moses Age At Time Of Death

Moses was born on December 18, 1888, in New Haven, Connecticut, US, and died of heart disease on July 29, 1981, at the age of 92 at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip, New York. During the last years of his life, Moses concentrated on his lifelong love of swimming and was an active member of the Colonie Hill Health Club.

Robert Moses Height

Robert Moses stood at a height of 6 feet 1 inch or (1.85 m).

Robert Moses Weight

Moses was a man of moderate weight. His actual weight was not listed anywhere by the time of his death.

Early Life and Education

Moses was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on December 18, 1888, to parents of German Jewish descent, Isabella “Bella” (Cohen) and Emanuel Moses. He spent the first nine years of his life living at 83 Dwight Street in New Haven, two blocks from Yale University. In 1897, the Moses family repositioned to New York City, where they lived on East 46th Street off Fifth Avenue.

Moses’s father was a triumphant department store owner and real estate speculator in New Haven. For the family to transfer to New York City, he traded his real estate holdings and store, then fled. Moses’s mother was active in the settlement movement, with her own love of building. Robert and his brother Paul went several schools for their elementary and secondary education, the Dwight School and the Mohegan Lake School, a military academy near Peekskill.

After graduating from Yale College (B.A., 1909) and Wadham College, Oxford (B.A., Jurisprudence, 1911; M.A., 1913), and earning a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University in 1914, Moses became drawn to New York City reform politics.

Personal Life

Robert Moses Family, Parents

Moses was born to his parents in New Haven, Connecticut, to German Jewish parents, Bella (Silverman) and Emanuel Moses. Robert spent the first nine years of his life living at 83 Dwight Street in New Haven, two blocks from Yale University. In 1897, the Moses family moved to New York City, where they lived on East 46th Street off Fifth Avenue.

Robert’s father was a successful department store owner and real estate speculator in New Haven. In order for the family to move to New York City, he sold his real estate holdings and store, then retired. Moses’s mother was active in the settlement movement, with her own love of building.

Robert Moses Wife

Moses was married twice. He married Mary Sims in 1915 and she later died in 1966 while still together. Later, he married Mary Alicia Grady in 1966.

Robert Moses Children

Moses had two children, daughters Barbara and Jane, with Mary.

Robert Moses Net Worth

Robert Moses had accumulated a handsome amount of wealth. His net worth was estimated at $50,000, including his Assets, Money, and Income. His primary source of income was his career as a public official.

Facts: Everything You Need to Know About Robert Moses

Here are some interesting facts you should know about Moses.

Robert Moses Bio.

• Full Names: Robert Moses
• Popular As: Urban planner and former New York Secretary of State
• Gender: Male
• Occupation / Profession: Public Official
• Nationality: American
• Race / Ethnicity: white
• Religion: Not Known
• Sexual Orientation: Straight

Birthday

• Age At the time of death: 92 Years Old
• Date of Death: July 29, 1981
• Zodiac Sign: Leo
• Date of Birth: December 18, 1888
• Place of Birth: New Haven, Connecticut, United States
• Birthday: December 18th

Body Measurements

• Body Measurements: Not Available
• Height / How Tall?: 6 feet 1 inch or (1.85 m).
• Weight: Moderate
• Eye Color: Brown
• Hair Color: Dark Brown
• Shoe Size: Not Available

Family and Relationship

• Father (Dad): Bella (Silverman)
• Mother: Emanuel Moses
• Siblings (Brothers and Sisters): One
• Marital Status: Was Married
• Wife/Spouse: Was married to Mary Alicia Grady in 1966
• Children: Barbara Olds, Jane Collins

Net Worth and Salary

• Net Worth: $50,000
• Salary: Not Available
• Source of Income: Public Official

Beach

Jones Beach State Park is a New York State Park. It is a barrier island linked to Long Island by Meadow brook State Parkway, Wantagh State Parkway, and Ocean Parkway in southern Nassau County, in the hamlet of Wantagh, on Jones Beach Island. Other projects include the Northern State Parkway, the Southern State Parkway, and the Wantagh State Parkway.

The Power Broker Robert Moses

The Power Broker: Moses and the Fall of New York is Robert Caro’s 1974 biography of Moses. The book focuses on the creation and use of power in local and state politics, as witnessed by Moses ‘ use of unselected positions to design and implement dozens of highways and bridges, sometimes at great cost to the communities, he served nominally. It has been repeatedly named one of the best biographies of the 20th century and has been highly influential on city planners and politicians across the United States. In 1974, the book won a Pulitzer Prize.

Robert Moses Books

• Berman, Marshall, All That is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity, New York: Viking Penguin, 1988. ISBN 1844676447
• Ballon, Hilary, Moses, and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York (NY: Norton, 2007). ISBN 9780393732436
  Caro, Robert A., The Power Broker: Moses and the fall of New York, New York: Knopf, 1974. hardcover: ISBN 0-394-48076-7, Vintage paperback: ISBN 0-394-72024-5, OCLC 1087489248
• Christin, Pierre, and Olivier Balez. Moses: The Master Builder of New York City (2014). ISBN 1907704965
• Doig, Jameson W. “Regional Conflict in the New York Metropolis: The Legend of Moses and the Power of the Port Authority,” Urban Studies Volume 27, Number 2 / April 1990 pp. 201–232
• Jackson, Kenneth T. and Hillary Ballon, eds. Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York (W. W. Norton,
• Krieg, Joann P. Robert Moses: Single-Minded Genius, Interlaken, New York: Heart of the Lakes Publishing, 1989.
• Lewis, Eugene, Public Entrepreneurship: toward a theory of bureaucratic political power—the organizational lives of Hyman Rickover, J. Edgar Hoover, and Moses, Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1980.
• Moses, Robert. Public works: A dangerous trade. McGraw Hill. 1970. Autobiography.
• Rodgers, Cleveland, “Robert Moses: An Atlantic Portrait”, The Atlantic, February 1939
• Rodgers, Cleveland, Moses, Builder for Democracy, New York: Holt, 1952.
• Vidal, Gore. “What Moses Did to New York City” New York Review of Books, October 17, 1974. Also found in “United States: Essays 1952–1992” Gore Vidal, Random House, 1993.

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