# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/william-henry-vanderbilt
# Generated: 2026-09-01T08:42:50.328Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/william-henry-vanderbilt"
name: "William Henry Vanderbilt"
slug: "william-henry-vanderbilt"
description: "William Henry Vanderbilt was an American businessman and railroad magnate. Known as \"Billy\", he was the eldest son of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, an heir to his fortune and a prominent member of the Vanderbilt family. Vanderbilt became the richest American after he took over his father's fortune in 1877 until his own death in 1885, passing on a substantial part of the fortune to his wife and children, particularly to his sons Cornelius II and William. He inherited nearly $100 million from his father. The fortune had doubled when he died fewer than nine years later."
tagline: "American businessman and philanthropist (1821–1885)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/William_Henry_Vanderbilt_by_Eastman_Johnson_1886.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Founders"
  slug: "founders"
profileType:
  name: "Founder"
  slug: "founder"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q131524"
birthDate: "1821-05-08"
deathDate: "1885-12-08"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           54.44
  momentum:             1.776420605416888
  historical:           15.88129466666667
  currentAttention:     9.869003363427154
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Henry_Vanderbilt"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85_%D9%87%D9%86%D8%B1%D9%8A_%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%AA"
    title: "ويليام هنري فاندربلت"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85_%D9%87%D9%86%D8%B1%D9%89_%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%AA"
    title: "ويليام هنرى فاندربلت"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Vanderbilt"
    title: "William Henry Vanderbilt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Vanderbilt"
    title: "William Henry Vanderbilt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Vanderbilt"
    title: "William Henry Vanderbilt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Vanderbilt"
    title: "William Henry Vanderbilt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Vanderbilt"
    title: "William Henry Vanderbilt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%95%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%90%D7%9D_%D7%94%D7%A0%D7%A8%D7%99_%D7%95%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%93%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%98"
    title: "ויליאם הנרי ואנדרבילט"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Vanderbilt"
    title: "William Henry Vanderbilt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Vanderbilt"
    title: "William Henry Vanderbilt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2%E3%83%A0%E3%83%BB%E3%83%98%E3%83%B3%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%B4%E3%82%A1%E3%83%B3%E3%83%80%E3%83%BC%E3%83%93%E3%83%AB%E3%83%88"
    title: "ウィリアム・ヘンリー・ヴァンダービルト"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Vanderbilt"
    title: "William Henry Vanderbilt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Vanderbilt"
    title: "William Henry Vanderbilt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Vanderbilt"
    title: "William Henry Vanderbilt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%2C_%D0%A3%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F%D0%BC_%D0%93%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%80%D0%B8"
    title: "Вандербильт, Уильям Генри"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Vanderbilt"
    title: "William Henry Vanderbilt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Vanderbilt"
    title: "William Henry Vanderbilt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q578647"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump