Harold Fowler McCormick

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Harold Fowler McCormick
International Harvester Company
Spouses
(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

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 on 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

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:

After his divorce from Edith, and before his second marriage, McCormick sought to fortify himself by undergoing an operation by

impotency.[13] In 1922, McCormick married Polish opera singer Ganna Walska.[14]
They divorced in 1931.

McCormick's grave at Graceland Cemetery

McCormick died on October 16, 1941, of a cerebral hemorrhage, at his home in Beverly Hills, California.[3][15] He was buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.

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]

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. ^
    New York Times
    . October 17, 1941. Retrieved August 2, 2010.
  4. ^ "The Sport In Which Millionaires Are Champions". Chicago Tribune. August 11, 1907. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  5. , page 54.
  6. , 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. , page 57.
  9. . Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  10. ^ "Fowler McCormick Dies at 74; Ex‐Chairman of Harvester". The New York Times. January 7, 1973. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  11. ^ "MRS. MAX OSER DIES ON COAST; Granddaughter of the Late John D. Rockefeller, Sister of Fowfer McCormick ". The New York Times. May 19, 1947. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
  12. ^ "MRS. OSER GOES TO MOTHER; Rides in Twentieth Century to Bedside of Mrs. McCormick" (PDF). The New York Times. August 18, 1932. Retrieved May 4, 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. New York Times
    . August 12, 1922. Retrieved September 4, 2012. 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.
  15. ^ "Harold Fowler McCormick". Associated Press. October 17, 1941. Retrieved August 2, 2010.
  16. .

Further reading

External links