George D. Wick

Infobox Person
name = Colonel George D. Wick


image_size = 140px
birth_date = birth date|1854|2|19|mf=y
birth_place = Youngstown, Ohio
death_date = death date and age|1912|4|15|1854|2|19|mf=y
death_place = Lost at Sea
resting_place_coordinates
occupation = Industrialist
title = Founding President, Youngstown Sheet and Tube

Colonel George Dennick Wick (February 19, 1854 – April 15, 1912) was an American industrialist who served as founding president of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, one of the nation's largest regional steel-manufacturing firms.cite news
first = Janie S
last = Jenkins
title = Col. Wick Lost Life in Sinking -- Tragedy of the Titanic Left Its Mark on City
work = Youngstown Vindicator
page = 8
date = April 15, 1977] He perished in the Atlantic during the sinking of the "RMS Titanic".cite news
first = Linda
last = Feagler
title = Fate-filled Voyage
work = Ohio Magazine
page = 82
date = April 2005]

Early life and career

Wick was born in Youngstown, Ohio, United States, where his family was established in the sectors of real estate and banking.cite news
first = Miriam R
last = Klein
title = Ill-Fated Voyage Of Titanic Claimed Area Industrialist
work = The Metro Monthly
page = 6
date = January 1998] Nineteenth-century Youngstown was a center of coal mining and iron production; and Wick, a resourceful entrepreneur, launched several ventures with business partner James A. Campbell, who later served as director of the American Iron and Steel Institute. [Fuechtmann (1989), p. 12.]

, shortly after its establishment in 1901, absorbed Youngstown's premier steel producer, the National Steel Company.Blue et al. (1995), p. 94.]

During the previous year, however, Wick and Campbell pooled resources with other local investors who wanted to maintain significant levels of local ownership within the city's manufacturing sector.Blue et al. (1995), p. 94.] The group established the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company with $600,000 in capital and eventually turned it into one of the nation's most important steel producers. [Fuechtmann (1989), p. 16.] Wick, who emerged as the steel company's first president in 1900, appointed Campbell as secretary. Two years later, Campbell rose to the position of vice president; and in 1904, he began his long tenure as president of Youngstown Sheet and Tube.cite news
title = Death Ends J. A. Campbell's Career; Sudden Attack Is Fatal to Sheet & Tube's Builder
work = The Youngstown Vindicator
page = 1
date = September 21, 1933] Wick, meanwhile, was forced to take an extended leave of absence because of health problems, though he returned to the company a few years before his death. [http://www.ohiohistory.org/ohswww/etcetera/exhibits/ohiopix/image.cfm?ID=5359&criteria=&start=1 OhioPix] Accessed 2007-03-27]

Death on the "Titanic"

Wick embarked on a European tour in 1912, in an effort to restore his health. He was joined by his wife, Mary Hitchcock Wick; his daughter, Mary Natalie Wick; a cousin, Caroline Bonnell; and Caroline's English aunt, Elizabeth Bonnell. On April 10, 1912, the group boarded the "RMS Titanic", at Southampton, England. The new luxury liner was bound for New York, with 2,224 passengers and crew aboard.cite news
title = Titanic Sank 20 Years Ago: Worst Sea Disaster in History Recalled--Four Youngstowners on Board
work = The Youngstown Daily Vindicator
date = April 14 1932]

At 11:45 p.m., on April 14, one of the ship's lookouts rang a bell to signal that an object lay directly in the ship's path. The vessel turned to avoid a collision, but the submerged portion of an iceberg gouged its bulkhead and bilges.cite news
title = Titanic Sank 20 Years Ago: Worst Sea Disaster in History Recalled--Four Youngstowners on Board
work = The Youngstown Daily Vindicator
date = April 14 1932] In the confusion that followed, Wick was last seen on the deck of the sinking ocean liner, waving to relatives as they were helped into lifeboats.cite news
title = Miss Bonnell's Graphic Story Of The Rescue of Survivors
work = The Youngstown Daily Vindicator
date = April 19 1912] Caroline Bonnell, who boarded one of the first lifeboats dispatched from the ship, told reporters what happened later: "There was a big wave. The sea was calm, otherwise, and I asked a sailor what it was. He said, 'the Titanic has sunk!'"cite news
title = Tells of Women Pulling Oars; Youngstown Woman Relates Story of Escape from Sinking Titanic
work = The Cleveland Plain Dealer
page = 1
date = April 19 1912] Wick's body was never recovered.cite news
title = Catastrophe at Sea Stunned City 25 Years Ago Tonight
work = The Youngstown Daily Vindicator
date = April 14 1937]

Following official confirmation that George D. Wick was lost at sea, Youngstown's municipal government declared that all local factories, businesses, and schools should observe five minutes of silence at 11 a.m. on April 24, 1912, to honor the industrialist's memory. Meanwhile, the Wick family's pew at the city's First Presbyterian Church was roped off, and flags throughout the community were flown at half mast. A memorial monument was later erected for Wick at Youngstown's Oak Hill Cemetery.

Legacy

The steel company Wick helped to organize flourished for many decades. In 1923, Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company purchased plants in the Chicago area whose output represented about one-third of the company's total national production capacity. Following a slump in the 1960s, however, owners attempted to revamp the company's Youngstown operations with profits generated from newer plants in Illinois and Indiana. This strategy was abandoned after Youngstown Sheet and Tube was taken over by New Orleans-based Lykes Industries, which closed Youngstown's steel plants in the 1970s. [Fuechtmann (1989), pp. 41-43.]

Notes

References

* Blue, Frederick J.; et al. (1995). "Mahoning Memories: A History of Youngstown and Mahoning County". Virginia Beach, VA: The Donning Company, p. 94. ISBN 0898659442.

* Fuechtmann, Thomas G. (1989). "Steeples and Stacks: Religion and Steel Crisis in Youngstown". New York: Cambridge University Press.