William Vanderbilt (1821 - 1885): TopicRailroad developer and financier, born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA. His father, ‘Commodore’ Cornelius Vanderbilt, regarded him as incapable of playing a role in his business empire, but after William succeeded at running a farm on Staten I and then at turning around the bankrupt Staten Island Railroad (1857–63), his father appointed him vice-president of the New York & Harlem Railroad (1864).