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Diamond Jim Brady (James Buchanan Brady), 1856–1917, American financier and philanthropist, b. New York City. He was a bellboy and messenger and then worked for the New York Central RR in various capacities. He later was employed by a railroad supply company, and his selling ability rapidly brought him a fortune. He began collecting diamonds and other jewels and amassed 30 complete sets of jewelry estimated as worth well over $1 million. He was famous for his appetite and elaborate meals and was one of the best-known men in New York's Broadway nightlife. In 1912 he gave funds to Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore (where he had received treatment) to found the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute.
See biography by P. Morrell (1934, repr. 1970).
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