George Peabody (February 18, 1795-November 4, 1869) was an entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Peabody Institute. He was born in what was then South Danvers, Massachusetts (now Peabody, Massachusetts), to a family with Puritan antecedents in the state, but that was solidly middle class. His birthplace at 205 Washington Street in Peabody is now the George Peabody House Museum, a museum dedicated to preserving his life and legacy. One of George Peabody's longtime business associates and friends was renowned banker and art patron William Wilson Corcoran