Mr. Stanford White was born into a life of wealth and privilege on November 9th, 1853. He was a talented and versatile draftsman who in 1880, joined Charles Follen McKim and William Rutherford Mead in founding McKim, Mead and White, which soon became the most prominent architectural firm in the country. Mr. White was an important American architect of his time. His career was rich and full and varied from designing the summer homes of the Astor's and The Vanderbilt’s to such formidable structures as The Washington Square Arch, Madison Square Garden and the New York Herald Building. He was an extrovert, a lavish entertainer with a penchant for young, beautiful women. He was killed by Henry Kendall Thaw, a multimillionaire heir to a railroad and ore fortune from Pittsburgh. Mr. Thaw rage and ill mannered behavior consumed him and finally erupted at the super club theatre on the roof of Madison Square Garden on the night of June 25, 1906. Mr. Thaw fired three shots at close range into Mr. White's face and head over the issue of his wife, Evelyn Nesbit, had dated Mr. White in the past.