Clarence Dillon

Clarence Dillon
Born	Clarence Lapowski September 27, 1882(1882-09-27)
Died	April 14, 1979(1979-04-14) (aged 96)
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	Worcester Academy Harvard University
Occupation	investment banker
Employer	Dillon, Read & Co.
Spouse	Anne McEldin Douglass (wed February 4, 1908)
Partner	William A. Read
Children	C. Douglas Dillon Dorothy Dillon Eweson
Parents	Samuel Lapowski Bertha Stenbock

Clarence Dillon, (September 27, 1882 - April 14, 1979), was an American financier, and namesake of Dillon, Read & Co., an investment bank.

Background

Clarence Dillon was born Clarence Lapowski. His parents were Samuel Lapowski and Bertha Stenbock. Dillon's father was a Polish-Jewish immigrant, likely born in Łomża, Poland in 1848. His paternal grandparents were Joshua Lapowski and Paulina Dylion, daughter of a Frenchman, Michel Dylion. Samuel Lapowski eventually emigrated to the United States.

In 1878, his father went to San Antonio, Texas and married Bertha Stenbock one year later. Stenbock was born 1862 in Denver, Colorado, the daughter of Gustav Stenbock, a Swedish immigrant, who was prospecting for lead and silver in the Colorado Western Slope.

In 1884, the family moved to Abilene, Texas. They became naturalized citizens in the Abilene District Court, on September 25 1891, legally changing the family name to Dillon on September 17, 1901.^[1]

Samuel Dillon died in San Francisco, California, on June 23, 1912. His wife died in New York City, on January 1, 1951.

Education

Clarence Dillon graduated from Worcester Academy and then Harvard, in 1905.^[2]

Marriage and issue

On February 4, 1908, Dillon married Anne McEldin Douglass (b. September 26 1881, Peoria, Illinois - d. November 8 1961, Far Hills, New Jersey) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Anne was the daughter of George Douglass (Chillicothe, Ohio, July 19 1843 - Milwaukee, September 29 1919) and his wife and second cousin (m. near Lafayette, Ohio, October 6 1867) Susan Virginia Dun (near Lafayette,August 21 1846 – Richmond, Virginia, January 8 1937).^[3]

Their son, C. Douglas Dillon (later Secretary of the Treasury, 1961-65) was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1909. Their daughter, Dorothy, was born in 1913 and died on June 8, 2005 in Far Hills, New Jersey.^[4] She was predeceased by her husbands, Philip Allen,^[5] Sydney Shepherd Spivack ^[5][6] and Eric Eweson.^[5]

Clarence purchased show dog Fontclair Festoon from Dody Jenkins. This dog would go on to win best-in-show at the Westminster Kennel Club in 1959. The dog was handled by Anne Rogers Clark.^[7]

Career

Dillon met William A. Read, founder of the Wall Street bond broker William A. Read & Company, through an introduction by his Harvard classmate, William A. Phillips, in 1912. Dillon joined Read's Chicago office in that year and moved to its New York office in 1914. Following Read's death in 1916, Dillon bought a majority interest in the firm. In 1921, company's name was changed to Dillon, Read & Co. ^[8]

A number of Dillon, Read partners served in senior roles in government, including Dillon and his right hand man, James Forrestal, who served as Secretary of the Navy, and later, Secretary of Defense.

During World War I, Bernard Baruch, Chairman of the War Industries Board, (known as the Czar of American Industry) asked Dillon to be Assistant Chairman of the War Industries Board.

Manhattan townhouse, built 1930

Dillon was a Francophile both because his mother was of French origin and for his own personal tastes. In 1929, he purchased an apartment in Paris where he stayed a part of each year until he was well into his 80s.^{[citation needed]}

An oenophile as well, Dillon negotiated for months with André Gibert, to purchase Château Haut-Brion and ultimately did so on May 13, 1935 for 2,300,000 francs. Dillon is said to have purchased Château Haut-Brion, merely because it was his favorite wine. But Haut-Brion is near Bordeaux, and good riding and hunting land surrounds the estate.

In 1957, Fortune Magazine listed Dillon as one of the richest men in the United States, with a fortune then estimated to be from $150 to $200 million.

Notes

1. ^ Katharyn Duff, Abilene ... On Catclaw Creek (1969), p. 133
2. ^ "C. Douglas Dillon, former Treasury secretary and Harvard overseer, dies at 93". Harvard University Gazette (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University News Office). January 16, 2003. http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2003/01.16/12-dillon.html. Retrieved 2009-03-25. "Dillon and his father, Clarence Dillon '05, also established the Dillon Field House Endowment." 
3. ^ For her ancestry, see Harry Wright Newman, A Branch of the Douglas family with its Maryland & Virginia connections (New York: Doubleday, 1967).
4. ^ Paid Notice: Deaths EWESON, DOROTHY DILLON June 14, 2005
5. ^ ^{a b c} Paid Notice: Deaths EWESON, DOROTHY DILLON June 12, 2005
6. ^ Mrs. Allen married to Sydney Spivak
7. ^ "Tributes to Anne Rogers Clark". eurodogs.net. http://eurodogs.net/News/2007/January2007/News120107/anne-rogers-clark.htm. Retrieved 11 April 2010. 
8. ^ Banking Firm Changes

Further Reference

• Robert C. Perez and Edward F. Willett, Clarence Dillon, a Wall Street enigma (Lanham: Madison, 1975)

External links

• Ancestry of Joan Douglas Dillon

Persondata
Name	Dillon, Clarence
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 27, 1882
Place of birth
Date of death	April 14, 1979
Place of death