In ^FtnoriaiiL 



At a Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the American 

 Museum of Natural History, held December 14th, 1882, the 

 following resolutions in regard to the death of 



Mr. ROBERT L. STUART, 



were unanimously adopted and ordered to be entered upon the record. 



By the death of Mr. Robert L. Stuart another of the founders of the Museum of 

 Natural History, in Central Park, has passed away. It is therefore 



Resolved, That in view of the loss of one who has proved himself so strong and reliable a friend 

 of its interests, it becomes this Board to recognize the event with appropriate expressions of its un- 

 feigned sorrow. 



Mr. Stuart was elected to the office of President of the Board upon the decease of Mr. John 

 D. Wolfe, and retired from the position on account ot failing health, to the great regret of the whole 

 Board. 



Mr. Stuart had a large share in the promotion of the prosperity of the Museum from its origin. 

 Although a man of active business habits and without the possession of extensive scientific acquire- 

 ments, he was by no means destitute of considerable knowledge of classification in seme very inte- 

 resting departments, and there was also that in his mental and moral constitution, which found its 

 appropriate exercise in an undertaking so large in its plan and so entirely designed for the public grati- 

 fication and improvement. His contributions to its cabinets and treasury were worthy of his reputation 

 and character as a public benefactor ; but, while we cannot speak too highly of him in the relations 

 he sustained to this Board, we ought not to lose sight of the man as he was, the space he filled and the 

 work he wrought. His life touched so largely and at so many points the benevolent enterprises of the 

 day, that in the best sense he might be regarded as a public man. 



Were we able, it would be an agreeable task to recite his great and manifold benefactions, public 

 and private. His large-hearted bounty flowed in a perpetual stream. 



The world has grown since Mr. Stuart came upon the stage of action, and in some of its aspects 

 Mr. Stuart has come up to the full measure of its growth 



Dark as may be some of the portents of our time, their grand characteristic, in permanent power, 

 is yet to be found in the force and development of moral ideas. There have been long ages in the 

 world's history in which the law of charity was almost unknown. It is a vital force among men to-day, 

 and it flourishes by the aid of striking examples as well as by the influence of high and pure precept. 

 There is nothing better on the earth, and in all its varied manifestations it is destined to mould society 

 and to become the living bond to bind the world together. 



It was the happy and peculiar condition of Mr. Stuart's life to exemplify among us one of its 

 phases in a manner as useful to the community as it was rare and exceptional in extent. 



Although the architect of his own fortune, and occupied by the cares of a ereat and engrossing 

 business, a man of sagacity, understanding well the value and power of money, he escaped its almost 

 universal contagion and, though living in a day characterized by the temptations and opportunities of 

 inordinate accumulation, through the force of a liberal and generous spirit he became one of the early 

 pioneers among us in the gracious and noble art of great giving. 



Here, there is no mistaking the position he occupied in this community. He was loyal to the cause 

 of humanity and a conspicuous example of that which by common consent entitles the memory of 

 men to a place of high honor. 



Possessing a decided christian faith, and loving the tried paths of integrity, he regarded with stern 

 disapproval the modern legerdemain of the markets by which one takes but does not give. 



Mr. Stuart presented in his life another pleasing and softening aspect of character. He took 

 a singular satisfaction in all things beautiful — in fine volumes, in flowers, birds and shells, and in objects 

 curious and rare. He loved the arts by which men live and by their taste and plastic skill make our 

 homes more beautiful to the eye and to the mind. 



Life presented to Mr. Stuart many rational sources of enjoyment as well as a wide field of use- 

 fulness, and in his death a figure to which we have been long accustomed, of large proportions and 

 remarkable qualities, has gone out of some of the best circles of influence at this great metropolitan 

 centre. 



