He became a successful and wealthy merchant, who added to his fortune through investments and board appointments in banking, railroad and insurance. He resided in Tuxedo Park, New York, where he owned a grand mansion, and also had a flat on the West Side of Manhattan. A patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History, he served as President of the Metropolitan Opera for nearly three decades, from 1892 until his death. Juilliard died in 1919, aged 83, at his home in New York City. He was interred in the family mausoleum at the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.