William Wilson Corcoran (December 27, 1798 – February 24, 1888) was an American banker, philanthropist, and art collector.

His father was Thomas Corcoran, a well-to-do merchant twice elected as mayor of Georgetown, and his mother was Hannah Lemmon.

[3] William Corcoran was raised in Georgetown, where he studied classics and mathematics at local private schools run by Alexander Kirk and the Reverend Addison Belt.

[8] In 1851 Corcoran purchased the second marble version of American sculptor Hiram Powers scandalous statue "The Greek Slave" and considered it his most prized acquisition.

[citation needed] Before the gallery was ready, however, the Civil War began, and Corcoran, a Southern sympathizer, left Washington for Paris, where his son-in-law, George Eustis Jr., was a representative of the Confederacy.

[5] In 1848, Corcoran had purchased 15 acres (6 ha) of land for Oak Hill Cemetery, which overlooks Rock Creek Park.

[12] Corcoran also established a $10,000 fund, administered by the Benevolent Society, to purchase firewood for the poor in Georgetown.

[4] One of William Wilson Corcoran's longtime business associate and friend was the renowned George Peabody.

Early in 1883, Corcoran arranged to have the body of John Howard Payne returned to the United States, an expense he personally bore.

[14] The home opened in 1871 on Massachusetts Ave. NW, between 15th and 16th Streets, in Washington, D.C., where it operated until 1947; the original building was razed in 1949.

However, in at least one letter to his wife, Corcoran expressed sympathy for abolitionists, and in 1845 he manumated Mary and her four young children.

In 1851, Corcoran provided funds to help buy the freedom of an enslaved person who had been recaptured eight years after first escaping slavery.

Before his wife's early death from tuberculosis on November 21, 1840, they had three children, however, only one survived into adulthood:[4] Corcoran joined the Potomac Lodge No.