and Lafayette Railroad Company of which he helped reorganize after its 1870 bankruptcy. In 1872, Kennedy and Sir William John Menzies of Edinburgh organized the Scottish American Investment Company in Scotland. J.S. Kennedy & Company acted as the American agent of the Company which invested solely in bonds issued by North American railroad companies. Over time, the investment portfolio broadened out over time to include shares as well as bonds and industrial, commercial and public utility companies. In 1878 Kennedy was instructed as USA liquidator on behalf of the shareholders of the City of Glasgow Bank to recover, primarily railroad assets, American securities of $5 million. On December 1, 1883, he retired and left the firm to his nephews, John Kennedy Tod and Robert Elliot Tod, as well as other junior partners who reorganized the firm under the name J. Kennedy Tod & Company. In retirement, Kennedy broadened his role as a financier with diverse interests in leading New York financial intermediaries. Kennedy held the post of president pro tem of the Bank of the Manhattan Company from 1883 to 1884, when he became vice president until he resigned for reasons of health in 1888. Kennedy also served as a trustee of the Central Trust Company from 1882 until he died. Kennedy held similar positions with the National Bank of Commerce from 1887 to 1909, the New York Life Insurance Company from 1903 to 1906, the Title Guarantee and Trust Company from 1895 to 1909, and the United States Trust Company of New York from 1896 to 1909. As a result of his varied banking activities, Kennedy became a central figure in the history of American banking and in the New York business community. Personal life In 1858, he was married to Emma Baker (1833–1930) in Elizabeth, New Jersey, only two years after moving to New York City. Emma was the daughter of Jenette Ten Eyck (née Edgar) Baker and Cornelius Baker, one of the founders of New York University. He had no children but mentored his sister Mary Kennedy's son John Kennedy Tod in the international banking and investment profession. He was a member of the Century Association, Metropolitan Club, Downtown Club, Grolier Club, Union League Club, City Club, New York Yacht Club and Atlantic Yacht Clubs, the Jekyl Island Club, and the New-York Historical Society. Kennedy died of whooping cough in 1909 at his home, 6 West 57