James Harvey Beal Jr., was born in Pittsburgh on Aug. 28, 1898, the son of prominent Pittsburgh attorney James Harvey Beal, Sr., who died suddenly of a heart attack at the at the age of 52.
James attended the Hill School, served in the U.S. Navy in World War I and earned an undergraduate degree in Princeton in 1920 and law degree at the University of Pittsburgh in 1923.
He became specialized in corporate, banking, tax, estate and trust work, which possibly introduced him to The Pittsburgh Foundation. He also represented several motion-picture companies in litigation with theater owners and served as counsel for Mellon Institute and the Buhl Foundation.
James was a passionate golfer and spent time sailing on the coast of Maine. He and his wife, Rebecca Jones Beal, were also prodigious collectors art and significant benefactors of the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Art Museum of Princeton University. During their lifetimes, the couple donated more 250 works to the Carnegie Museum alone, considered to be some of the most important gifts in the museum's history.
Like his father, James was active in many civic causes and organizations, serving as a trustee of Carnegie Institute, Carnegie Mellon, Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh Zoological Society, Pittsburgh Association for the Improvement of the Poor , the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania and director of both Allegheny Trust Company and Pittsburgh Gage and Supply Company.
Type of Fund
- Unrestricted