Joseph E. Widener

Life & Legacy

Joseph Early Widener (August 19, 1871 – October 26, 1943) was an American Thoroughbred horse race owner, breeder, and racetrack owner. He raised seventy-nine stakes race winners, was president of Belmont Park racetrack, and owned Hialeah Park racetrack. He was a member of the wealthy Widener family and managed the family estate. He was an art collector who inherited and refined his father Peter Arrell Browne Widener's vast art collection displayed at their Lynnewood Hall estate. He donated over 2,000 works of art to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.