Robert's father, a successful real estate developer, died at the family's estate, Aknusti, at the age of 81 on October 31, 1957,[3] just a few hours after his brother, former U. S. Senator Peter Goelet Gerry, died in Providence, Rhode Island.
From 1923 to 1941, all U.S. Open Polo Championship were played at Meadow Brook on Long Island, New York.
In the 1940 U.S. Open Polo Championship final, the Aknusti team beat Great Neck.
[10] Gerry inherited family lands in the Catskills, and added to them to create the sprawling 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) estate "Aknusti" (later renamed 'Broadlands').
It is an almost contiguous estate with a polo field, multiple working farms, a 20,000 sq ft (1,900 m2).
mountain-ridge sited colonial manor house designed by Walker & Gillette, numerous dependencies, and landscaping done by Frederick Law Olmsted.