Robert Walton Goelet was a financier

Financier

Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...

 and real estate developer in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, who, at the time of his death, was one of the largest property owners in the city. (Not to be confused with his first cousin, Robert Wilson Goelet, who was the original owner of Glenmere mansion

Glenmere mansion

The Glenmere mansion, overlooking Glenmere Lake, approximately 50 miles northwest of New York City in Orange County, New York, was built by New York City real estate developer Robert Wilson Goelet in 1911, on the grounds of his sprawling estate in Sugar Loaf, a hamlet of the town of Chester, New...

.) As the son of Robert Goelet

Robert Goelet

Robert Goelet was a real estate developer in New York City and a director of the Chemical National Bank. He had a house in New York, at 591 Fifth Avenue, and seasonal residences in Tuxedo Park and Newport, Rhode Island...

 and Henrietta Louise Warren, he was born into one of the oldest and wealthiest families in New York City. A sportsman and the leader of the city's old-money social set, he died of a heart attack on May 2, 1941, aged 61, in his brownstone

Brownstone

Brownstone is a brown Triassic or Jurassic sandstone which was once a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States to refer to a terraced house clad in this material.-Types:-Apostle Island brownstone:...

 on Fifth Avenue at 48th Street, one of the few private residences left in that area.