Robert Williams Daniel

Robert Williams Daniel (September 11, 1884 – December 20, 1940) was an American banker who survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, and later became a gentleman farmer and served in the Virginia Senate. Early and family life Daniel was born on September 11, 1884, in Richmond, Virginia, the son of James Robertson Vivian Daniel, a Richmond lawyer, and Hallie Wise Daniel (née Williams). Daniel was educated in the local schools and graduated from the University of Virginia in 1903. He married fellow Titanic survivor Eloise Hughes Smith in 1914, but divorced in 1923. On December 6, 1923, Daniel married Margery Durant, daughter of automobile executive William C. Durant, and they had one daughter, Margery Randolph Daniel (November 2, 1924 – May 23, 2013). They too divorced and Daniel married Charlotte Bemiss Christian, a widow, who survived him. They had one son, Robert Williams Daniel, Jr. (March 17, 1936 – February 4, 2012). A descendant of William Randolph, his great-grandfather Peter V. Daniel, was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, his great-great-grandfather Edmund Randolph, was the seventh Governor of Virginia, the first Attorney General of the United States and later served as Secretary of State. Career After graduating from the University of Virginia, Daniel embarked on a career in banking and management. His first job was in the traffic manager's office of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. His grandfather, Peter V. Daniel, Jr., had been president of the railroad from 1860 to 1871. About 1905, Daniel left RF&P and entered the insurance business, becoming attached to the firm of Williams and Hart. He eventually succeeded Williams as district superintendent for the Maryland Life Insurance Company. In 1906, Daniel and a fellow district manager of Maryland Life, Charles Palmer Stearns, formed the insurance firm Daniel and Stearns.