A major turning point in their relationship occurred on the family trip to Europe on the steamship Vanderbilt in 1860, after which the two became very close and Billy was given a greater role in business matters.

[3] His father carefully oversaw his business training, starting him out at age 19 as a clerk in a New York banking house.

Vanderbilt received bad publicity and clarified his response with a subsequent interview by the Chicago Times.

Ferdinand Ward, known as the Napoleon of Wall Street, had, unknowingly to both Grant and Vanderbilt, operated the company as a Ponzi scheme that resulted in financial ruin for many.

To pay Vanderbilt back, Grant mortgaged his Civil War memorabilia, including his sword.

[citation needed] Vanderbilt died on December 8, 1885, in Manhattan, New York City, suffering a stroke during an appointment with Baltimore and Ohio Railroad president Robert Garrett.

[citation needed] His youngest son George inherited his Staten Island mansion and farm, which became Miller Field airbase and parkland.

[20] Vanderbilt was an active philanthropist who gave extensively to a number of philanthropic causes including the YMCA; funding to help establish the Metropolitan Opera (which was not an entirely selfless act; his and other New York "new money" families had been socially excluded from the New York Academy of Music and set up the Metropolitan as competition); and an endowment for the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.