Robert Goelet Jr. (September 29, 1841 – April 27, 1899) was an American heir, businessman and yachtsman from New York City during the Gilded Age. Early life Robert Goelet was born on September 29, 1841 in Manhattan, New York City, to Sarah Ogden (1809–1888) and Robert Goelet (1809–1879). He had a younger brother, Ogden Goelet, who married society leader Mary Wilson Goelet and built Ochre Court in Newport, Rhode Island. Through his brother, he was the uncle of Mary Goelet, who married Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe and real estate developer Robert Wilson Goelet. His parents resided at 5 State Street, overlooking the Battery in Manhattan. His father was a prominent landlord in New York, as was his uncle, Peter Goelet, who was named after his great-grandfather, Peter Goelet. His grandfather was the merchant and landowner Peter P. Goelet. Career He graduated from Columbia College in 1860 and was subsequently admitted to the bar. Goelet practiced law in the C.J & E. DeWitt (later DeWitt, Lockman and Kip) law firm that also counted his cousin George Goelet Kip and George Gosman DeWitt among its partners, before retiring in 1879 to manage the real estate of his father and his unmarried uncle. After their deaths, he inherited half their fortune. He also served on the board of directors of the Union Trust Company, the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company, the Guaranty Trust Company, the Bank of New Amsterdam, the Chemical National Bank, which his father and uncle were instrumental in founding. In his obituary in The New York Times, he was described as: "He was clear-headed and keen-witted, and his judgment in financial and real estate matters invariably commanded the respect of other business men. A loyal New Yorker, Robert Goelet took particular pride in promoting the growth and development of the city with which his family had long so long identified. He was a man of progressive ideas, and throughout his business career pursued a policy of improving his properties in a manner which would beautify the city." Social and sporting life Goelet was a member of the exclusive Philadelphia Club, the New York Yacht Club, the Knickerbocker Club, the Metropolitan Club, the Tuxedo Club, the Union Club of the City of New York and was one of the original stockholders of the Metropolitan Opera House, both before it burned in 1892 and after it was rebuilt.