The mayor of Cleveland from 1890 to 1896, he left a profound mark on yachting, both locally and nationally, through his innovative planning. To preserve a portion of the lakefront for the people of Cleveland when railroads began laying their tracks he founded the Cleveland Yacht Club in 1878 and served as its commodore from 1878 to 1894. Founded the Inter-Lake Yachting Association in 1885 to develop a sensible handicapping rule for sail yachts and was commodore of the I-LYA from 1885 to 1894. Was the driving force in establishing the Yacht Racing Union of the Great Lakes and finally organized the North American Yacht Racing Union (now the U.S. Yacht Racing Union) in 1897 to further develop equitable handicapping rules on a national basis.