Huntington Hartford

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George Huntington Hartford II

Hartford in 1968
Born April 18, 1911(1911-04-18)
New York, New York, United States
Died May 19, 2008 (aged 97)
Lyford Cay, The Bahamas
Education St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire), Harvard
Occupation Heir to The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, Businessman, Philanthropist
Net worth US $ 2.6 billion (pre-1975)
Spouse(s) Mary Lee Eppling, Marjorie Steele, Diane Brown
Children Catherine Hartford, John Hartford, Juliet Hartford
Parents Edward V. Hartford, Henrietta Guerard Hartford
Website
http://www.huntingtonhartford.com/

George Huntington Hartford II (April 18, 1911 – May 19, 2008) was an heir to the The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company fortune. Hartford was born in New York City and was the son of Edward V. Hartford, heir to the A&P fortune and auto parts inventor. His father died in 1922 and he was cared for by his mother Henrietta Guerard Hartford.

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[edit] Biography

His grandfather George Huntington Hartford and his uncles John Augustine Hartford (1872–1951) and George Ludlum Hartford (1864–1957) privately owned the A&P Supermarket, which at one point had 16,000 stores in the US and was the largest retail empire in the world. When his uncles died they had no heirs so he inherited their fortune. The money also went to the John A. Hartford Foundation, which had $800 million as of 2007. In the 1950s A&P was the world's largest grocer and, next to General Motors, sold more goods than any other company in the world. The A&P in 2007 had revenue of 6.9 Billion. In 1950 Time Magazine wrote the A&P had sales of 2.7 billion. Time magazine wrote in November 13, 1950 issue that "the familiar red-front A & P store is the real melting pot of the community, patronized by the boss's wife and the baker's daughter, the priest and the policeman. To foreigners A & P's vast supermarkets are among the wonders of the age; to the U.S. middle class, they are one of the direct roads to solvency. "Going to the A & P" is almost an American tribal rite."

Huntington was the original owner and developer of Paradise Island in the Bahamas , which was originally called Hog Island. He built the Ocean Club on the island from the unassembled stones of a monastery that William Randolph Hearst had in a warehouse in Florida ("The Ocean Club" featured in the recent James Bond film "Casino Royale"). Huntington Hartford wanted Paradise Island to be the new Monte Carlo and got the Gambling license for the Island. When Huntington asked Resorts International to join his Company, Resorts and Huntington attempted to make a Pan Am takeover which failed.

Huntington Hartford grew up on a 1,000-acre (4.0 km2) plantation in South Carolina called Wando, a House in Newport called Seaverge next to Doris Duke's Roughpoint and an apartment on Fifth Avenue. He bought the penthouse duplex at One Beekman Place in New York City in the 1950s on the 13th and 14th floors after moving from an apartment at the River House. He also had a house called Pompano on 240 El Vedado Drive in Palm Beach, a 150-acre (0.61 km2) estate in Wycoff New Jersey called Melody Farm, a 160-acre (0.65 km2) Estate called The Pines on 7300 Mulholland Drive California (all of Hollywood as your backyard also called Runyon Canyon Park). Hartford had his Huntington Hartford Theater right near his property it was the first legitimate Theater in Los Angeles and he also had his Artists Colony in the Pacific Palisades that was also 150 acres (0.61 km2). He also had a house on Paradise Island, a Townhouse in Red Lion's Yard behind the Dorchester in London, a house in Juan Les Pins France and two yachts Joseph Conrad Senior and Junior. In New York City he was a member of the River Club and in Palm Beach he was a member of The Bath and Tennis Club known as the B&T.

Huntington's sister Josephine Hartford was married to Ivar Bryce for 30 years. Ivar was Ian Fleming's Best Friend from Eton. Ivar's niece Janet Bryce married David Mountbatten and is the mother of Ivar Mountbatten and George Milford Haven. Lord Louis Mountbatten was Prince Charles's Uncle.

Huntington was interviewed in the 1960s by David Frost on Television. Huntington said he had a Flag for Paradise Island in the shape of a P and he wanted to put it on the moon as a symbol of Peace for the world.

Huntington Hartford produced Does a Tiger wear a Necktie along with Philip Rose at the Belasco Theater from February 25, 1969 to March 29, 1969 with an unknown actor called Al Pacino who played Bickham and who won a Tony for it. Huntington tried to buy RKO Pictures from Howard Hughes. Hartford owned Huntington Hartford Productions that produced several movies including Abbott and Costello's Africa Screams in 1949.

He published a magazine called Show from 1961 to 1972 and Hired Edward Durell Stone to build him a Museum called The Gallery of Modern Art at 2 Columbus Circle to showcase his great art collection, including Impressionists, pre-Raphaelites, and Surrealists notably Salvador Dali. His art collection consisted of Salvador Dali, Claude Monet, Manet, Rembrandt, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Turner and Degas among others. The Museum opened in 1964.

He thought of an idea to get oil from rock (mainly in Western Colorado) so he founded Oil Shale corporation with Herbert Linden and set up the Denver Research Institute at University of Denver to research it as an alternate way to get oil. He made deals with Standard Oil and Atlantic Richfield for Oil Shale. He was largest stockholder of Oil Shale corporation. Oil Shale became Tosco which is owned by ConocoPhillips and is worth billions today.

In the 1960s, the International Herald Tribune wrote that he was one of the world's richest men. In 1975 Peter Owen published "You Are What You Write" by George Huntington Hartford II. It was of specific interest in that it covered cancer detection through handwriting. The author is described as the President and Founder of The Handwriting Institute Inc. in New York; former research associate in Neurology at Columbia University and honorary member of AAHA. The Sunday Express Magazine Expresso (11/8/1996 pp. 28-32) throws some light on the author. At 21, Hunt inherited a fortune—"the greatest fortune on Earth"; the money was made by his grandfather and father from a chain of 16,000 supermarkets, at one time the world's largest retail empire.

His final home was in Lyford Cay, The Bahamas, where he lived with his daughter Juliet Hartford. He died on May 19, 2008 at age 97.

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[edit] External links

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