Millard Bloomer

Millard Bloomer attended Columbia University, graduating in 1920, where he won the intercollegiate foil fencing championship in 1919. He won that title by winning 11 bouts and losing 1, ending in a tie with Harvard’s E. R. Gay, but Bloomer defeated Gay in the barrage for the title. He later attended Columbia Law School and was admitted to the New York bar in 1924. Bloomer was fortunate to make the 1920 Olympic team. Only a few weeks before the Games, he was injured during an exhibition in Chicago when James Knox drove his sword through Bloomer’s right shoulder, but he recovered in time to compete in Antwerpen.

Bloomer worked for Cravath, Swaine & Moore from 1923-40, then was with Rand, French & Carpenter in 1940, Bloomer & Jacobi in 1941, and Wickes, Riddell, Bloomer, Jacobi & McGuire in 1941, where he was of counsel. He did extensive travel in South America and was a director of the Reserve Bank of Peru.

Bloomer served on the Columbia College Council from 1959-63, and was on the board and a vice-president of the Metropolitan Opera Guild from 1953-71. He was also a vice-president and Executive Committee member for the Masterpieces of Art Exhibit at the New York Worlds Fair in 1939-40. Bloomer was a director of the Metropolitan Opera Association from 1963-70. He helped organize the Ballet Institute and Ballet International, and was associated with the Ballet Theater Foundation and the Harkness Ballet.