In the life of Rhode Island, one of those men who for years has taken a leading part in public affairs is Thomas Pierrepont Hazard, who is associated with a number of the foremost business organizations of this State. The Hazard home is in Peace Dale, the town of his birth and in which he is widely known today.
Mr. Hazard was born in Peace Dale, Rhode Island, on October 26, 1892, son of Rowland Gibson and Mary Pierrepont (Bushnell) Hazard, and is the eleventh generation of this family in Rhode Island. The father was engaged for many years as a financier and an industrialist until his death in 1918. He was a manufacturer, was prominent in politics, and was an influential man in his day. The mother, who was born in Beloit, Wisconsin, is living today in Rhode Island. Thomas Pierrepont Hazard received his education in St. George’s School, Newport, Rhode Island, from which he was graduated in the class of 1911, and at Yale University, from which, in 1915, he took his degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then became associated with the Solvay Process Company, of Solvay, New York, where he remained until 1923. In that year, when he left, he was assistant to the president of the company. He then returned to Peace Dale, where he took up management of different estates and trusts, chiefly those of the Hazard family. In this work he has continued ever since that time. He is president of the American Fish Culture Company; president of the Narragansett Pier Railroad Company; vice-president of the R. Hazard Estate, Inc; president of the Rhode Island Estates Corporation; a director of the Caro Cloth Company, of Carolina, Rhode Island; president of the Eastern Trout Growers’ Association; president of the Narragansett Library Association; president of the Community Chorus; secretary and treasurer of the Community Players; trustee of the Narragansett Library Fund; trustee of the Hazard Memorial Hall; trustee of South Kingstown school funds; and trustee of the Peace Dale Congregational Church Fund. He is the partner in the firm of Sturges, Chaffee and Hazard, investment agents, of Providence, Rhode Island.
Active in social affairs, he is a member of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity and the Wolf’s Head Senior Society, which he joined while at Yale; and of the Hope Club, the Yale Club of New York, the Point Judith Country Club (of which he is a governor), the Dunes Club (of which he is president), and the Narragansett Country Club. Politically, he is a supporter of the Republican party, in whose affairs he is active, as was his father before him. Since 1924 he has been a member of the South Kingstown Town Council, chairman of the fire wardens of Union Fire District, and a member of the committee on water and lights. He served, from 1921 to 1923, as a member of the school board, of Solvay, New York. During the World War, Mr. Hazard was active, too, in the support of his country’s cause. He enlisted, in October, 1915, in Troop D of the 1st New York Cavalry, in which he held the rank of private. In June, 1916, he was called into active service on the Mexican border. In August, 1916, he was promoted to the rank of corporal, and in March, 1917, was mustered out of service. Then, on March 27, 1917, he was recalled into the service, and was stationed on guard duty at Peekskill, New York. From May, 1917, until August, 1917, he was at the Officers’ Training School, at Madison Barracks, New York. He was finally commissioned provisional second lieutenant in the United States Army, and was ordered into service with the 14th Cavalry at Del Rio, Texas, where he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. He served for a time as squadron and regimental personnel adjutant, and was discharged from Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, in February, 1919, with the rank of first lieutenant. When Mr. Hazard is not busy with one or another of his various duties, he is fond of indulging in his favorite recreations, which are tennis, yachting, squash rackets, and skiing. Into all of these activities, as into his military and business life, he ever puts his fullest measure of energy and enthusiasm, with the result that he is widely known in this region of Rhode Island as a sportsman of ability.
Thomas Pierrepont Hazard married, on May 20, 1922, Anne F. Cope, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By this union there have been born four children:
- Sophia Francis.
- Thomas Pierrepont, Jr.
- Mary Pierrepont.
- Anne Francis.
Source: Carroll, Charles. Rhode Island: Three Centuries of Democracy, vol 3 of 4. New York: Lewis historical Pub. Co., 1932.