Childs Frick

Childs Frick (1883–1965) was an American vertebrate paleontologist.

Biography

He was a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History and a major benefactor of its Department of Paleontology, which in 1916 began a long partnership with him. He established its Frick Laboratory. He also made many expeditions to the American West, and his efforts helped to shape an understanding of the evolution of North American camels. Frick, by employing many field workers, accumulated over 200,000 fossil mammals, which later were donated to the Museum.

Childs Frick was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania the son of the coke and steel magnate Henry Clay Frick (1849–1919) and Adelaide Howard Childs. He grew up at the family's Pittsburgh estate, Clayton, although the family later moved in 1905 to New York City. He developed his lifelong love for animals playing in the wooded grounds and steep hills behind Clayton, later dedicated as Frick Park. He attended Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh and graduated from Princeton University in 1905.