Herrick was born in Huntington, Lorain County, Ohio, the son of Mary (Hulburt) Herrick and Colonel Timothy Robinson Herrick, a local farmer and businessman.[1] He studied at Oberlin College and Ohio Wesleyan University, but graduated from neither.[2][3] He married Caroline Marina Parmely of Dayton, Ohio on June 30, 1880. They had one son, Parmely Webb Herrick (1881–1937).[3]
Career
Myron T. Herrick
Admitted to practice law in Cleveland in 1878, Herrick joined the bank Society for Savings as secretary and treasurer in 1886, and became the bank's president in 1894.[4]
In 1902, Herrick gave the village of Wellington, Ohio, a grant of $20,000, which they used to build the library now known as the Herrick Memorial Library. Herrick later bequeathed $70,000 for an addition.[7]
Herrick is known for his role in contributing French-American amity in the lead-up to and during World War I.[8] He was United States Ambassador to France from 1912 to 1914 and again from 1921 to 1929. He is the only American ambassador to France with a street named after him in Paris, in the 8th arrondissement. Herrick was the ambassador who hosted Charles Lindbergh in Paris after his successful New York-to-Paris Atlantic crossing in 1927.[9]
Upon his return to the United States in 1914, Herrick's prominent role in aiding Americans stranded by the outbreak of World War I led to discussion within the Republican Party of Herrick as a possible nominee in the upcoming 1916 presidential election. Herrick himself felt his business background would prove a liability, however, and when his candidacy failed to gain traction he chose instead to mount a challenge to incumbent Democratic SenatorAtlee Pomerene in 1916, which proved unsuccessful.[10]
Death
Herrick was serving as United States Ambassador to France at the time of his death on March 31, 1929. He died from a heart attack.
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