Edward Austin Kent | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1854-02-19)February 19, 1854 Bangor, Maine, United States |
| Died | April 15, 1912(1912-04-15) (aged 58) Atlantic Ocean |
| Alma mater | Yale University École des Beaux-Arts |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Parent(s) | Henry Mellen Kent Harriet Ann Farnham |
| Relatives | William Winthrop Kent (brother) |
Edward Austin Kent (February 19, 1854 – April 15, 1912) was a prominent architect inBuffalo, New York. He died in thesinking of the RMSTitanic and was seen helping women and children into the lifeboats.[1]
Edward Austin Kent was born inBangor, Maine on February 19, 1854, to Harriet Ann Farnham (1830–1908) and Henry Mellen Kent (1823–1894).[2] Kent moved with his family to Buffalo after theAmerican Civil War, where his father, Henry, opened a successful department store,Flint & Kent. He was the brother ofWilliam Winthrop Kent (1860–1955),[3][4] also a prominent architect who studied underH. H. Richardson,[5][2] and Charles Farnham Kent (1856–1878), who died aged 22 inDenver, Colorado.[6] Kent attended and graduated fromYale, in 1875,[7] and later theÉcole des Beaux-Arts, the famousBeaux-Arts architecture school in Paris. Returning to the U.S. in 1877, he became junior partner in theSyracuse, New York firm ofSilsbee and Kent. In 1884, he returned to Buffalo and remained there for the rest of his career, helping to found the Buffalo Society of Architects and receiving many prominent commissions, includingFlint & Kent.[8] Until his death, he lived at the Buffalo Club.[9]
In 1912, he took a two-month vacation to France and Egypt and planned on retiring after returning home. He decided to delay his trip home so he could travel on the maiden voyage of the new and luxurious ocean liner, theRMS Titanic.
Kent traveled as a first-class passenger. He mingled with the other socialites, and with a writers' group which includedHelen Churchill Candee andArchibald Gracie. He perished when the ship struck an iceberg and sank on the night of April 14–15, 1912. As the ship was sinking, he disregarded his own safety to help women and children into the lifeboats. He was last seen at around 2:20 a.m. making no attempts to save himself as he was swept into the ocean. His body was recovered by theCSMackay-Bennett as body No. 258 and claimed by his brother when the ship docked. He was laid to rest in theForest Lawn Cemetery inBuffalo, New York.[1][10]
