| Edward Austin Kent | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
February 19, 1854 Bangor, Maine |
| Died |
April 15, 1912 (aged 58) At Sea |
Edward Austin Kent was a prominent architect in Buffalo, New York.
Edward Kent was born in Bangor, Maine in February 19, 1854. His parents were Henry Mellen Kent who was a dry goods merchant, and Harriet Ann Farnham. Edward had one brother, William Winthrop Kent who would also become an architect.
Kent moved with his family to Buffalo after the Civil War, where his father opened a successful department store, Flint & Kent. Kent was educated at Yale and then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Returning to the U.S. in 1877, he became junior partner in the Syracuse, New York firm of Sillsbee and Kent. In 1884 he returned to Buffalo and remained there for the rest of his career, helping to found the Buffalo Society of Architects and receiving many prominent commissions, including Flint & Kent. Various designs came out of his hand, among which was the Board of Trade building in Toronto, Ontario.
In 1912, he took a two-month vacation to France and Egypt and planned on retiring after returning home. He decided to delay his trip home so he could travel on the maiden voyage of the new and luxurious ocean liner, the RMS Titanic.
Aboard the Titanic[]
Kent traveled as a First Class passenger. He came aboard in Cherbourg and had a ticket for cabin B-37. During the voyage, he mingled with the other socialites, including Helen Churchill Candee and Archibald Gracie. He also met on occasion with a writers group.
He perished in the disaster that followed when the ship struck an iceberg and sank on the night of April 14–15, 1912. As the ship was sinking, he disregarded his own safety to help women and children into the lifeboats. He was last seen at Titanic's final minutes, making no attempts to save himself as he was swept into the ocean. His body was recovered by the CS Mackay-Bennett as body No. 258 and claimed by his brother when the ship docked. He was laid to rest in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York.
References[]
- Bill Parke, "Edward Austin Kent in Buffalo, New York" [1]
- "Mr. Edward Austin Kent", Encyclopedia Titanica [2]