Henry C. Hathaway

HATHAWAY, MORRIS

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 6/11/2018 at 08:36:44

15 October 1931 - West Branch Times

A recent dispatch states: "The body of Capt. Henry Cook Hathaway, 43, former publicity director of New York university, was found Tuesday at the foot of a cliff on the New Jersey side of the Hudson river.

It is believed he lost his footing and fell over the precipice.

Captain Hathaway was born in West Branch, Iowa, and was graduated from the University of Nebraska."

Harry Hathaway was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Hathaway, long time residents of West Branch, where Charles was engaged in the mercantile business, later being associated with Lewis Albin, the store known as Hathaway & Albin's grocery and dry goods being well remembered.

Since leaving here the family lived in Iowa City where Harry finished high school, and for a number of years they were in Lincoln, Nebr. Later they moved to New York City where they have since remained. Charles is in business there, and Harry's work with the university took him abroad, frequently. He was unmarried.

5 November 1931 - West Branch Times

Mrs. E. C. Morris has received newspapers from New York City which contains a few more details concerning the death of her cousin, Henry C. Hathaway, better known to his friend as "Harry", which resulted from an accident Oct. 12.

The reports state: "Captain Henry C. Hathaway, former director of student welfare and athletics and later publicity director at New York University, was found dead at the foot of a 350 foot cliff near Yonkers Ferry, N.J., in the Palisades Interstate Park. With his parents and several friends he had attended a picnic there Monday night and when last seen was sitting on the side of the cliff enjoying a view of the Hudson. It is believed that when he started to get up he missed his footing in the darkness and fell. He was missed by his friends early in the evening, and after a fruitless search the police were called, and at 1:30 a.m. the body was found at the foot of the cliff.

Captain Hathaway was forty years old. He was born in West Branch, Iowa, the town of President Hoover's birth, and was a graduate of the University of Nebraska. During the World War he was an officer in the United States Infantry, and in 1919 was assigned to New York University as professor of military science and tactics.

Resigning from the army in 1920, he joined the university staff as director of student welfare and athletics. In this capacity he obtained the appointment of "Chick" Meehan as football coach at the university in 1925, a move which led to the rise of the university in football annals.

Captain Hathaway also organized the first "radio college," which presented lectures by New York University professors over WJZ in 1925. He merged the university's student band with the band of its military training unit, to form one of the largest college musical organizations in the country. For several years he was president of the Middle Atlantic States Athletic Conference and secretary of the American Association of College News Bureaus.

In 1930 he resigned from the university staff to become publicity director for the Goldman Band, and later opened general publicity offices at 10 East Fortieth Street. He lived at 2206 Andrews Avenue, the Bronx. Captain Hathaway's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Hathaway, survive.

Funeral services were held in the Walter Cook Funeral Chapel, 1 West 190th Street, the Bronx."