Business Magnate. His education began in Pittsburgh, continued in Europe at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, and was completed at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He graduated with a degree in civil engineering. He first worked in Georgia, but as the Civil War drew near, he moved to Philadelphia. He began working for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Thomas A. Scott appointed him manager, assistant superintendent, and superintendent, of a number of subsidiaries of the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1871, Cassatt became superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He continued to take on responsibilities as he became a vice-president of the company. He then retired to became president of the Monmouth Park Racing Association in New Jersey. He later returned to railroading, working for a number of companies in a several capacities. He ultimately returned to the Pennsylvania Railroad where he eventually served as the company's seventh president, from 1899 to 1906. Among his accomplishments at the Railroad were the planning and commencement of the construction of the greatest of railway tunnels under the Hudson, Manhattan Island, and the East River, and the building of Manhattan's Pennsylvania Station. He was married to Marie Lois Buchanan, niece of President James Buchanan. He was a son of Robert Simpson Cassatt and Katherine Kelso Johnston. He was the brother of artist Mary Stevenson Cassatt.
∼President of the Pennsylvania Railroad (1899- 1906) and chief motivating force behind the first successful tunnels under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Manhattan and the construction of the now gone Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in engineering in 1859 and began work for the PRR as an engineer (surveyor) in 1861, rising to become First Vice President in 1880. Cassatt resigned from the PRR in 1882 after being passed over for the office of president. He was recalled to become president in 1899. His sister, Mary became a famous Impressionist painter.