His maternal grandparents were Margaret (née Steele) Milledoler and Phillip Milledoler, the president of Rutgers University. His paternal grandparents were Catharine (née Saunders) Beekman and Gerard Beekman, himself the son of James Beekman, a prominent merchant. Beekman was a direct descendant of Gerardus Beekman, acting Mayor of New York City, and Wilhelmus Beekman, who sailed to New Netherlands with Peter Stuyvesant and was an officer of the Dutch West India Company.
