Clarence Day

Clarence Shepard Day Jr. (November 18, 1874 – December 28, 1935) was an American author and cartoonist, best known for his 1935 work Life with Father.

Early life and family background

Day was born in New York City to Lavinia (née Stockwell) Day and stockbroker Clarence Shepard Day Sr. His father owned a Wall Street brokerage firm and was a banker, a railroad director, and Governor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Clarence Sr.'s firm was established in 1854 and had offices at 21 and 40 Wall Street, next to Federal Hall, and was a member of the Metropolitan Club, Union League Club, American Yacht Club (New York), and New England Society of New York.

His grandfather Benjamin Day and great-uncle Moses Yale Beach were the founders in 1833 of the New York Sun. His uncle Benjamin Henry Day Jr. was the inventor of the Ben Day printing process.

Day attended St. Paul's School and graduated from Yale University in 1896, where he edited the campus humor magazine The Yale Record. He became also a member of the Yale Club of New York.

Career

In 1897, Day joined the New York Stock Exchange, and became a partner in his father's Wall Street brokerage firm. Day enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1898, but developed crippling arthritis and spent the remainder of his life as a semi-invalid. Upon mustering out of the Navy, he returned to his business career, but his illness forced him to retire in 1903 and seek to improve his health in Arizona and Colorado. He soon returned to New York City, however, and began publishing the Yale Alumni Weekly and contributing essays and drawings to various publications.