Jay Pickands - Partner of Pickands Mather & Company
9619 Lake Shore Boulevard "Breezy Bluff"
Few names are more deservedly prominent in Cleveland's industrial and commercial life history than that of Pickands. One of the families of that name and a member of Pickands, Mather & Company, was Jay M. Pickands.
Jay Morse Pickands was born on February 21, 1880, in Marquette, Michigan, to Colonel James and Caroline Martha Pickands. Colonel Pickands, along with Samuel Mather, founded the Pickands Mather & Company in 1883. Jay was two years old when his mother died on May 15, 1882, and his father remarried to Seville Hanna, the sister of Mark Hanna.
Jay Pickands, in his comparatively short life, achieved well-deserved business and social prominence. He graduated from University School in 1898 and graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1902.
After graduation, he went to work in the sales department of Pickands, Mather & Company. Jay's brother, Henry, took over the firm's partnership upon the death of their father on July 15, 1896.
Jay Morse Pickands became a partner in Pickands, Mather & Company in 1911. The business grew, including iron-ore mines, mining and distribution of coal, distribution of coke, and management of The Interlake Steamship Company fleet of 36 freighters transporting iron ore, coal, limestone, and grain on the Great Lakes.
Jay married Alice Maxwell Reynolds on January 7, 1903. She was born in Marquette, Michigan, on February 24, 1882, to Josiah and Jean Reynolds. Jay and Alice had a daughter, Jean Maxwell.
Jay was a member of the Athletic, Country, Mayfield, Tavern, and Union clubs. Politically he was a staunch Republican. He actively participated with charitable organizations and, for several years, was Secretary of the Cleveland Branch of the Red Cross.
Jay Pickands died on November 18, 1913, at age 33, at Lakeside Hospital due to an operation for appendicitis. A little more than two years after being made partner, his death deprived Pickands Mather of one of its most efficient and valuable executives. He was buried in Lake View Cemetery.
Alice remarried to Jeptha Homer Wade, Jr., and died in Santa Barbara, California, on January 22, 1919, at age 36.