Polo player and a former Deputy Police Commissioner. Mr. Wanamaker was a son of Thomas B. Wanamaker and Mrs. Archibald C. Thomson and a grandson of John Wanamaker founder of the Wanamaker department stores. He was largely responsible for the advances in the use of planes, especially helicopters, by the New York police. Grover A. Whalen started air service in the Police Department when he was commissioner in 1929. As aviation aide to the commissioner with the title of Deputy Police Commissioner, Mr. Wanamaker persuaded Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia to add helicopters, making the city the first to use such craft. Other cities, observing New York's success with the machines, were quick to follow the example. Mr. Wanamaker for some time operated a flying school for city policemen. He had been a flier in World War I and held an expert's license and a helicopter license. In World War II he handled a number of special assignments as a Navy commander. He was an expert horseman and played on the United States polo team at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. He was educated at the Haverford (Pa.) School and later studied abroad. Mr. Wanamaker's marriages to Alexandra Van Rensselaer Devereux, Beatrice Willing Patterson and Vivian Dixon Boardman ended in divorce. His wife was the former Virginia Thaw.
Polo player and a former Deputy Police Commissioner. Mr. Wanamaker was a son of Thomas B. Wanamaker and Mrs. Archibald C. Thomson and a grandson of John Wanamaker founder of the Wanamaker department stores. He was largely responsible for the advances in the use of planes, especially helicopters, by the New York police. Grover A. Whalen started air service in the Police Department when he was commissioner in 1929. As aviation aide to the commissioner with the title of Deputy Police Commissioner, Mr. Wanamaker persuaded Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia to add helicopters, making the city the first to use such craft. Other cities, observing New York's success with the machines, were quick to follow the example. Mr. Wanamaker for some time operated a flying school for city policemen. He had been a flier in World War I and held an expert's license and a helicopter license. In World War II he handled a number of special assignments as a Navy commander. He was an expert horseman and played on the United States polo team at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. He was educated at the Haverford (Pa.) School and later studied abroad. Mr. Wanamaker's marriages to Alexandra Van Rensselaer Devereux, Beatrice Willing Patterson and Vivian Dixon Boardman ended in divorce. His wife was the former Virginia Thaw.
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