Biography

06/18/1869 - 10/10/1946

Frank L. Fay (R50) Crawford and Mercer Counties 1926-1934

Early Life: 

Frank L. Fay, born June 18, 1869, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio; son of Patrick Fay and Mary Murray; public school education; Thiel College, (H.D., B.A.); messenger, Western Union Telegraph Company, 1883; telegraph operator, New York, Chicago and Saint Louis Railway; moved, Greenville, Pennsylvania, 1903; president, Greenville Steel Car Company, 1916-1925; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1926-1934; president, board of trustees, Thiel College, Greenville, 1940; married, Sarah Marie Wells Fay, 1896, children, Helen Fay, Frank Wells Fay, James Page Fay, Florence L. Fay; died, October 10, 1946 (aged 77), Clifton Springs Sanitarium, Clifton Springs, Ontario County, New York, interment, Shenango Valley Cemetery, Greenville, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. 

Early Career:

Messenger, age 14, Western Union Telegraph Company, 1883; telegraph operator, New York, Chicago and Saint Louis Railway; chief car accountant, Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad, Greenville; president, Greenville Steel Car Company, 1916-1925; President, board of trustees, Thiel College, 1940. 

Professional titles; business ownership; board memberships; local government; club memberships:

President, Board of Trade, (now Greenville Chamber of Commerce), Greenville Library Board, Greenville Hospital Board; chairman, Greenville chapter of the American Red Cross, president of the board of trustees of Thiel College; member, advisory board, American Peace Society; member, Free and Accepted Masons,  Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Greenville Rotary Club, Greenville Post of the American Legion, Bankers Club of America New York City, Duquesne Club of Washington, District of Columbia.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 50th district, Crawford and Mercer Counties, 1926-1934; committee assignments, Appropriations, Banks and Building and Loan Associations, Canals and Inland Navigation, Congressional Apportionment, Corporations, Education, Judicial Apportionment, Law and Order, Mines and Mining, Municipal Affairs, Pensions and Gratuities, Public Roads and Highways, Public Supply of Light, Heat and Water, Railroads (Chairman). Instrumental in pushing through legislation creating the Pymatuning Dam.

Legacy: 

Crossed the Atlantic Ocean aboard, Zeppelin “von Hindenburg,” Southampton, England to San Francisco, California, 1936.  

Cited: 

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members F". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project Wilkes University.

History of Northwestern Pennsylvania comprising the counties of Erie, Crawford, Mercer, Venango, Warren, Forest, Clarion, McKean, Elk, Jefferson, Cameron and Clearfield by Joseph Riesenman, Jr., 1943, pages 117-119.

Dight, J.C., (Director). Whitmore, R.E., (Compiler). (1927). The Pennsylvania Manual, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 965, 970, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 990.

Frank L Fay (1869-1946) - Find a Grave Memorial