Jump to content

Harold Fowler McCormick

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by InternetArchiveBot (talk | contribs) at 13:35, 1 March 2020 (Bluelink 1 book for verifiability. [goog]) #IABot (v2.0) (GreenC bot). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Harold Fowler McCormick
Born(1872-05-02)May 2, 1872
Chicago, Illinois, US
DiedOctober 16, 1941(1941-10-16) (aged 69)
Beverly Hills, California, US
EmployerInternational Harvester Company
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1895; div. 1921)​

​
​
(m. 1922; div. 1931)​
Children5
Parent(s)Cyrus Hall McCormick
Nancy Fowler McCormick
RelativesSee McCormick family

Harold Fowler McCormick (May 2, 1872 – October 16, 1941) was an American businessman. He was chairman of the board of International Harvester Company and a member of the McCormick family. in 1948 he was awarded the Henry Laurence Gantt Medal by the American Management Association and the ASME.[1]

Early life

Harold Fowler McCormick was born in Chicago May 2, 1872, to inventor Cyrus Hall McCormick (1809–1884) and philanthropist Nancy Fowler (1835–1923).[2][3]

During the 1890s, he competed in the US National Tennis Championships.[4]

Career

As an officer of the Aero Club of Illinois, founded February 10, 1910, McCormick became the third president in 1912, following Octave Chanute and James E. Plew.[5][6]

In 1914, McCormick, Plew, and Bion J. Arnold attempted to form a commuter airline which they announced would begin service in May, "using seaplanes to ferry passengers between various North Shore suburbs and Grant Park and the South Shore Country Club, of which he was a founder. Lake Shore Airline, which had two seaplanes, was intended to be a profit-making venture charging a steep twenty-eight-dollar round-trip fare between Lake Forest and downtown Chicago on four daily scheduled circuits. However, Chicago's irregular weather, especially the crosswinds, made a shamble of schedules, and the airline disappeared before the end of the year."[7][8]

McCormick became chairman of the board of International Harvester Company in 1935, replacing his older brother Cyrus Jr. (1859–1936).[9]

Personal life

Harold Fowler McCormick with his first wife, Edith Rockefeller, in 1895.

On November 26, 1895, he married Edith Rockefeller (1872–1932), the youngest daughter of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller and schoolteacher Laura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman. McCormick became the third inaugural trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation. He was also a trustee of the Rockefeller-created University of Chicago. He and Edith resided at 1000 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago and were the parents of five children before their divorce in December 1921:

  • John Rockefeller McCormick (1897–1901), who died young from Scarlet fever.
  • Editha McCormick (1903–1904), who also died young.
  • Harold Fowler McCormick Jr. (1898–1973), who married Anne Urquhart Brown "Fifi" (née Potter) Stillman (1879–1969), who had previously been married to James A. Stillman, and was the daughter of James Brown Potter and Mary Cora Urquhart.[10]
  • Muriel McCormick (1903–1959), who married Elisha Dyer Hubbard (1878-1936), a nephew of Elisha Dyer Jr. and grandson of Elisha Dyer (both Rhode Island governors), in 1931.
  • Mathilde McCormick (1905–1947),[11] who married Wilheim Max Oser (1877–1942), a Swiss riding instructor, in April 1923.[12]

After his divorce from Edith, and before his second marriage, McCormick sought to fortify himself by undergoing an operation by Serge Voronoff, a surgeon who specialized in transplanting animal glands into aging men with impotency.[13] In 1922, McCormick married Polish opera singer Ganna Walska.[14] They divorced in 1931.

McCormick died on October 16, 1941, of a cerebral hemorrhage, at his home in Beverly Hills, California.[3][15]

Legacy

Orson Welles claimed that McCormick's lavish promotion of Walska's opera career—despite her renown as a terrible singer—was a direct influence on the screenplay for Citizen Kane, wherein the titular character does much the same for his second wife.[16]: 497  Samuel Insull, president of a utilities holding empire that included Commonwealth Edison, was another influence,[16]: 49  along with William Randolph Hearst.[17]: 78 

See also

References

  1. ^ Lester Robert Bittel, Muriel Albers Bittel (1978), Encyclopedia of professional management . p. 456
  2. ^ Leander James McCormick (1896). Family record and biography. L.J. McCormick. pp. 303–304.
  3. ^ a b "Harold McCormick Industrialist, Dies. Chairman of the International Harvester Co., Which His Father, Cyrus, Founded. Sponsored Successful Search for Scarlet Fever Antitoxin. A Supporter of Opera". New York Times. October 17, 1941. Retrieved 2010-08-02. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ "The Sport In Which Millionaires Are Champions". Chicago Tribune. August 11, 1907. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  5. ^ Young, David M., "Chicago Aviation: An Illustrated History", Northern Illinois University Press, Dekalb, Illinois, Library of Congress card number 2002033803, ISBN 0-87580-311-3, page 54.
  6. ^ Young, David M., "Chicago Aviation: An Illustrated History", Northern Illinois University Press, Dekalb, Illinois, Library of Congress card number 2002033803, ISBN 0-87580-311-3, page 56.
  7. ^ Chicago Tribune, January 25, 1918; Harold F. McCormick, "From My Experiences Concerning Aviation," speeches of December 1 and 8, 1917, before the Psychological Club of Zurich, Switzerland, McCormick Collection, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison.
  8. ^ Young, David M., "Chicago Aviation: An Illustrated History", Northern Illinois University Press, Dekalb, Illinois, Library of Congress card number 2002033803, ISBN 0-87580-311-3, page 57.
  9. ^ Currey, Josiah Seymour (April 27, 2017). "Harold Fowler McCormick". Chicago: Its History and its Builders. Vol. 4. Jazzybee Verlag. ISBN 9783849648978. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Fowler McCormick Dies at 74; Ex‐Chairman of Harvester". The New York Times. 7 January 1973. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  11. ^ "MRS. MAX OSER DIES ON COAST; Granddaughter of the Late John D. Rockefeller, Sister of Fowfer McCormick ". The New York Times. 19 May 1947. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  12. ^ "MRS. OSER GOES TO MOTHER; Rides in Twentieth Century to Bedside of Mrs. McCormick" (PDF). The New York Times. 18 August 1932. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  13. ^ Grossman, Ron. (March 31, 1985) Chicago Tribune Lost lake shore drive: Mourning an era; Mansions of rich and famous yield to giant condos. Section: Real estate; Page 1.
  14. ^ "Walska the Bride of H. F. McCormick. Wedded in Quiet Paris Ceremony, With Mr. and Mrs. Malone the Only Witnesses. Posting Of Banns Waived. Official Says Couple Gave an 'Immense Amount' to Poor. Union Illegal in Illinois". Associated Press in the New York Times. August 12, 1922. Retrieved 2012-09-04. Harold F. McCormick of Chicago, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the International Harvester Company, and Mrs. Alexander Smith Cochran, known to the music world as Mme. Ganna Walska, were married quietly today in the City Hall of the select Passy district of Paris. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  15. ^ "Harold Fowler McCormick". Associated Press. October 17, 1941. Retrieved 2010-08-02. Harold Fowler McCormick, who passed on yesterday, was the son of Cyrus Hall McCormick, and former president and chairman of the board of International Harvester Co..... {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  16. ^ a b Welles, Orson; Bogdanovich, Peter; Rosenbaum, Jonathan (1992). This is Orson Welles. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-06-016616-9.
  17. ^ Estrin, Mark W. (editor) (2002). Orson Welles: Interviews. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-578-06209-6. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)

Further reading

  • Adams, Brian (2015) [2014]. Ganna: Diva of Lotusland. CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1-5141-6957-5.
  • Chernow, Ron (1998). Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller Sr. New York: Warner Books.
  • (Harvester World) Issue v.22, no.1, January 1942.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harold_Fowler_McCormick&oldid=943364919"