Thomas Dudley Cabot (May 1, 1897
Early life
Cabot was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His father was Godfrey Lowell Cabot, and a philanthropist. His mother was Maria Moors Cabot. Two of his siblings were John Moors Cabot and Eleanor Cabot of the Eleanor Cabot Bradley Estate.
Cabot graduated from Browne & Nichols School in 1913. He took some courses at Boston Tech (now known as Massachusetts Institute of Technology) becoming a World War I flight instructor at Kelly Field in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, before graduating cum laude from Harvard University with a SB in Engineering, in 1919. as was another family member, Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., who also served as a director of United Fruit.
In 1951, Cabot was U.S. Department of State's Director of Office of International Security Affairs during the Truman administration, called Gibraltar Steamship Company (which didn't own any steamships and whose president was Cabot) owned and established Radio Swan on Swan Island, a covert black operation his brother John Moors Cabot, another family member Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., and Cabot's son, Louis Wellington Cabot, The Cabot Science Complex is also named in their honor. He was elected a Life Member of the Corporation in 1951 and Life Member Emeritus in 1972. As part of his MIT Corporation work he served on many Corporation Standing and Visiting Committees. Godfrey L. Cabot also supported the Institute by establishing the Godfrey L. Cabot Solar Energy Fund.
Writings
- Quick-Water and Smooth: A Canoeist's Guide to New England Rivers, 1935
- Beggar on Horseback: The Autobiography of Thomas D. Cabot, 1979
- Avelinda: The Legacy of a Yankee Yachtsman, 1991
Personal life
Cabot was married to Virginia Wellington Cabot for 75 years, from 1920 to his death in 1995. They resided in Weston, Massachusetts for seventy-five years, Thomas Dudley Cabot Jr., and Linda Cabot Black, cofounder of Opera Company of Boston and Opera New England. in his 80s he lost the sight of an eye in a cross-country skiing accident, but he retained his enthusiasm for the active life. He and his wife, who celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary were tramping the mountains of Colorado. They also had 29 grandchildren, and 23 great-grandchildren. Virginia Cabot died in 1997 at Phillips House in Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She was 97.