Kensico Cemetery

Cemetery in New York, United States

Kensico Cemetery, located in Valhalla, Westchester County, New York was founded in 1889, when many New York City cemeteries were becoming full, and rural cemeteries were being created near the railroads that served the city. Initially 250 acres (1.0 km²), it was expanded to 600 acres (2.4 km²) in 1905, but reduced to 461 acres (1.87 km²) in 1912, when a portion was sold to the neighboring Gate of Heaven Cemetery.

Many entertainment figures of the early twentieth century, including Russian-born Sergei Rachmaninoff, were buried here. The cemetery has a special section for members of the Actors' Fund of America and the National Vaudeville Association, some of whom died in abject poverty.

The cemetery contains four Commonwealth war graves, of three Canadian Army soldiers of World War I and a repatriated American Royal Air Force airman of World War II.^[1]

As of December 2021, eight Major League Baseball players are buried here, including Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Lou Gehrig.^[2]

Sharon Gardens is a 76-acre (31 ha) section of Kensico Cemetery, which was created in 1953 for Jewish burials.

Notable interments in Kensico division

Virginia Admiral (1915–2000), painter and poet, mother of actor Robert De Niro
Hadji Ali (c. 1887-92 – 1937), vaudeville performance artist
Elizabeth Akers Allen (1832–1911), author and poet
Glenn Anders (1889–1981), American actor
Edward Franklin Albee II (1857–1930), Vaudeville impresario
John Emory Andrus (1841–1934), mayor of Yonkers, New York, and U.S. Congressman
Peter Arno (1904–1968), cartoonist
Anne Bancroft (1931–2005), American actress
Wendy Barrie (1912–1978), actress
Ed Barrow (1868–1953), baseball manager and executive
Marion Bauer (1882–1955), American composer
Malcolm Lee Beggs (1907–1956) actor
Henri Bendel (1868–1936), fashion designer, creator of the Bendel bonnet
Theodore Bendix (1862–1935), composer and musical director
Vivian Blaine (1921–1995), actress and singer
William Blaisdell (1865–1931), actor (plot: Actors' Fund)
Ralph Albert Blakelock (1847–1919), Romanticist painter
Patras Bokhari (1898–1958), Pakistani humorist writer
Paul Bonwit (1862–1939), founder of Bonwit Teller department store
Evangeline Booth (1865–1950), evangelist, daughter of Salvation Army founder, fourth General of the Salvation Army
Herbert Booth (1862–1926), songwriter, son of Salvation Army founder
Sully Boyar (Irvin) (1923–2001), actor
Martin Bregman (1926–2018), film producer
Samuel Logan Brengle (1860-1936), author, Salvation Army Commissioner
Russ Brown (1892–1964), actor
Billie Burke (1884–1970), American actress, wife of Florenz Ziegfeld
Henry Burr (1882–1941), Canadian singer
William J. Butler (1860–1927), Irish silent film actor
Cheng Chui Ping (1949–2014), 'Snakehead', human smuggler
Andy Coakley (1882–1963), baseball player
Frank Conroy (1890–1964), British film and stage actor
Bigelow Cooper (1867–1953) actor
Harry Cooper (1904–2000), golfer
Frederick E. Crane (1869–1947), Chief Judge of the NY Court of Appeals
Cheryl Crawford (1902–1986), theatrical producer
Milton Cross (1897–1975), radio host and announcer
Edward W. Curley (1873–1940), U.S. Congressman
George Ticknor Curtis (1812–1894), author, writer, historian and lawyer
Harry Davenport (1866–1949), actor
Olive Deering (1918–1986), actress
William Wallace Denslow (1856–1915), illustrator
Robert De Niro Sr. (1922—1993), artist, father of actor Robert De Niro
Peter DeRose (1900–1953), Hall of Fame composer
Elliott Dexter (1870–1941), film and stage actor
Lew Dockstader (1856–1924), vaudeville comedian.^[3]
Luigi Palma di Cesnola (1832–1904) Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor recipient
Arthur Donaldson (1869–1955), stage and screen actor
Tommy Dorsey (1905–1956), swing-era trombonist and bandleader
J. Gordon Edwards (1867–1925), silent-film director
Sherman Edwards (1919–1981), Tony Award-winning composer and songwriter
Angna Enters (1897–1989), entertainer
Judith Evelyn (1909–1967), stage actress
Geraldine Farrar (1882–1967), operatic soprano
Sid Farrar (1859–1935), Major League baseball player, father of soprano Geraldine Farrar
Emanuel Feuermann (1902–1942), master cellist
Sylvia Fine (1913–1991) lyricist, composer and producer, and the wife of the comedian Danny Kaye
Ezio Flagello (1931–2009) operatic bass
Gloria Foster (1933–2001) actress
Harry Frazee (1880–1929), owner of the Boston Red Sox
Lou Gehrig (1903–1941), Hall of Fame baseball player
Roy J. Glauber (1925–2018), Nobel Laureate-Physics
Gilbert Gottfried (1955–2022), American stand-up comedian and actor, best known for his exaggerated shrill voice, strong New York accent.
Billy Golden (1858–1926), blackface comic and singer
Rose Gregorio (1925–2023), actress
Ulu Grosbard (1929–2012) motion picture and stage director, producer
Marion Harris (1896–1944), singer
Valerie Jill Haworth (1945–2011), British actress
Mrs. Julian Heath (1863–1932), radio personality
Grace Henderson (1860–1944), actress
Gustave Herter (1830–1898), furniture maker and interior decorator
Al Hodge (1912–1979), actor
May Irwin (1862–1938), comedian
Danny Kaye (1911–1987), actor and comedian
Guy Kibbee (1882–1956), actor
Joseph Kilgour (1863–1933), Canadian actor
Ruth Laredo (1937–2005), pianist
William Van Duzer Lawrence (1842–1927), founder of Sarah Lawrence College
Herbert H. Lehman (1878–1963), politician
Jeffreys Lewis (abt. 1852–1926), actress
Joseph J. Little (1841–1913), U.S. Representative from New York
Cissie Loftus (1876–1943), Scottish-born actress, singer, comedian and vaudevillian
Dorothy Loudon (1933–2003), Tony Award-winning actress
Mario Majeroni (1870–1931), Italian-born actor, nephew of Adelaide Ristori
Tommy Manville (1894–1967), heir to the Johns Manville asbestos fortune
Jack McGowan (1894–1977), Broadway writer, performer and producer
Claudia McNeil (1917–1993), actress
Herman A. Metz (1867–1934), U.S. Congressman
Anna Moffo (1932–2006), operatic soprano
William Muldoon (1852–1933), wrestler
Allan Nevins (1890–1971), historian and journalist
Anne Nichols (1891–1966), playwright and screenwriter
Carlotta Nillson (1876–1951), actress
Caroline Love Goodwin O'Day (1875–1943), U.S. Representative from New York
Eulace Peacock (1914–1996), track and field athlete
Ann Pennington (1893–1971), Ziegfeld actress
David Graham Phillips (1867–1911), journalist and novelist
Jesse S. Phillips (1871–1954), lawyer, assemblyman, State Insurance Superintendent and insurance executive
Harriet Quimby (1875–1912), pioneer aviator
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943), composer, pianist and conductor
Ayn Rand (1905–1982), author, philosopher, playwright and screenwriter
Jacob Ruppert (1867–1939), owner of the New York Yankees
Soupy Sales (1926–2009), comedian
David Sarnoff (1891–1971), businessman head of RCA
Fritzi Scheff (1879–1954), operatic soprano and actress
Gordon Scott (1926–2007), actor
Peri Schwartz (1951–2021), artist
Gil Scott-Heron (1949–2011) singer and musician
Ann Shoemaker (1891–1978), actress
Richard B. Shull (1929–1999), actor
Ivan F. Simpson (1875–1951), Scottish actor
Leo Singer (1877–1950), manager of the Singer Midgets vaudeville group
Alison Skipworth (1863–1952), English actress
Alfred Holland Smith (1863–1924), president of the New York Central Railroad
Howard Smith (1893–1968), character actor
Mildred Joanne Smith (1921–2015), actress and educator^[4]
Peter Moore Speer (1862–1933), U.S. Congressman
Ellsworth Milton Statler (1863–1928), hotelier
Henry Stephenson (1871–1956), actor
Max Stern (1898–1982), entrepreneur and philanthropist
Lewis Stone (1879–1953), actor
Oscar W. Swift (1869–1940), U.S. Congressman
Fay Templeton (1865–1939), actress
Gertrude Thanhouser (1880–1951), actress
Benjamin I. Taylor (1877–1946), U.S. Congressman
Deems Taylor (1885–1966), composer and journalist
Victoria Tolbert (1916–1997), First Lady of Liberia^[5]
Wen-Ying Tsai (1928–2013), cybernetic sculptor
William L. Ward (1856–1933), U.S. Congressman
Charles Weidman (1901–1975), dancer and choreographer
James E. West (1876–1948), first Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America
Spencer Wishart (1889–1914), racecar driver
William B. Williams (1923–1986), disc jockey
John North Willys (1873–1935), automobile manufacturer
Charles E. Wilson (1886–1972), president of General Electric
Francis Wilson (1854–1935), actor
Blanche Yurka (1887–1974), theatre and film actress
Herbert Zelenko (1906–1979), U.S. Congressman
Florenz Ziegfeld (1869–1932), producer of the Ziegfeld Follies

Notable interments in Sharon Gardens division

Rhoda Blumberg (1917–2016), author
Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981), screenwriter, winner of three Academy Awards
Fred Friendly (1915–1998), broadcaster
Philip Gips (1931–2019), film poster artist
Gilbert Gottfried (1955–2022), comedian, actor
Alan Kirschenbaum (1961–2012), television producer and writer
Robert Merrill (1917–2004), baritone, Metropolitan opera star
Marshall Warren Nirenberg (1927–2010), biochemist
Freddie Roman (1937–2022), comedian
Robert Rosenthal (1917–2007), bomber pilot
Murray Saltzman (1929–2010), rabbi, civil rights leader
Beverly Sills (1929–2007), operatic soprano
Lew Soloff (1944–2015), jazz trumpeter
Lee Wallace (1930–2020), actor
Elie Wiesel (1928–2016), writer, Holocaust survivor

Image gallery

Mayer tumulus
Egyptian Sphinx Tomb
The Kane Lodge sphere
Pinkney Pyramid
Mecca Temple
The tomb of Phineas Lounsbery
The Ayer statue
Grave of Lou Gehrig
The Friars Club Monument
Tomb of J. Gordon Edwards with minaret
Daniel monument
The monument of Judge John Fitch
Amos Sulka mausoleum
The cemetery on the Metro North line

References

^ "Valhalla (Kensico) Cemetery". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
^ "Players by place of burial: New York Baseball Stats and Info". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
^ "Lew Dockstader, Minstrel, Is Dead. Famous Comedian Succumbs to a Bone Tumor at His Daughter's Home at 68". The New York Times. October 27, 1924. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
^ "Mildred Hepburn Obituary". Legacy.com. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
^ "Paid Notice: Deaths TOLBERT, VICTORIA A." The New York Times. New York, New York. 18 November 1997. Retrieved April 12, 2022.