William Leigh Keyser (November 23, 1835 – June 3, 1904) He was educated at various private schools in Baltimore, and entered St. Timothy's Academy in Catonsville, Maryland in 1846. He and his twin brother, Samuel, remained there until 1850, when their father's declining health and weakening financial situation made it necessary for the boys to leave school. Samuel eventually moved to New York City to make his way in business there, while William stayed in Baltimore to manage his father's warehouses. and was instrumental in the founding of Johns Hopkins University's Homewood campus. In November 1894, Daniel Coit Gilman, the university's first president, asked Keyser for his help in securing another site for the school, which was outgrowing its location in downtown Baltimore. and were the parents of three children who lived to adulthood:
- Robert Brent Keyser (1859–1927), who married Ellen Cary McHenry, a daughter of James Howard McHenry (a grandson of Secretary of War James McHenry). He served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Johns Hopkins University from 1903 until shortly before his death in 1927.
- Mathilde Lawrence Keyser (1870–1929), who married William Maurice Manly, the widow of Frances Howell Hughes Kennedy (eldest granddaughter of U.S. Senator Anthony Kennedy) in 1902.
- William Keyser Jr. (1871–1936), who married Jean Hancy, a daughter of Edward Johnson Hancy. Within days of his death, his twin brother Samuel was "lying ill at his residence" in New York and his nephew, Henry R. Keyser (son of his brother H. Irvine Keyser) died from meningitis at his country home near Chatelane. After a funeral at the Christ Protestant Episcopal Church, Keyser was buried in Baltimore's Green Mount Cemetery. His widow died seven years later on October 29, 1911.
Legacy
The city of Keyser, West Virginia is named for William Keyser.