Akin to Rockefellers and Mellons CNN Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Huntington Hartford, A & P. Heir International Herald Tribune Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Huntington Hartford, Eccentric Playboy Boston Herald Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Woburn’s Terrafugia Inc. hopes its futuristic car-plane business takes off in Massachusetts.
 by nachista |
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 by Cynthia |
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 by Shandonista |
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June 01, 2008
I've gone to my farm in Kentucky for the weekend. It's a great place to relax, do a little hard physical labor, and forget about the rest of the world. If you don't have such a place, I highly suggest you get one.
In the meantime, here's a little something that I found for you to read with your morning coffee.
See you on Monday.
J. Peterman
Share the Eye:
The Richest Man in the World PBS.org Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Paul Mellon's Legacy University of Virginia Take a look at an interesting article we found.
A&P History A&P Web site Take a look at an interesting article we found.
still thinking about today...
The Times article above didn't mention a couple of interesting facts.
He died May 19, 2008. He was 97. His trust fund, established by his grandfather, still paid him $500,000 per year. He was living on a Caribbean island in luxury. Not bad for a guy who bragged at the age of 85, he'd spent over $400,000,000 on failed projects and pipe dreams during his life. That was his cash inheritance. All of it gone. Except for the trust fund pay-out.
At one point in his life, he was the majority stock holder in the Oil Shale Company. This eventually became Conoco-Phillips. He sold the shares when Oil Shale was bought out. The shares, if he'd kept them, would have been worth, at his death, multiple billions of dollars. He could have been Warren Buffet.
Being rich doesn't translate to being smart. (Anymore than being smart can make you rich).
When he inherited his wealth, he was the richest man in the world.
He was once evicted from a residential building for the wealthy in New York, because he and someone named Mrs. Kay tied up a secretary and shaved her head.
I think it was Noel Coward who said the "rich are not like you and me, they're different". How true.
Legend has it that the enormous retailer of A & P seriously considered buying out Stop & Shop. They opted against it when they realized this buyout might put in customers' heads the unfortunate hybrid name of Stop & P.
Well, legend has it...
Spinner said...
DPR, I love it! This also shows that most people simply can't just intuitively know how to manage money. Look at the appauling number of lottery winners that have to declare bankrupcy within a few years. They, like Hartford did not earn the money, it was given to them. None of them learned what it takes to make and retain that sort of fortune. I would say the grandfather was very smart in giving him a good lump of his inheritance in trust. He was obviously aware of Huntington's incompetence.
And look at what is going on today. We saw a tv ad yesterday that should have been outlawed. It was for reverse morgages for 62+ yo's. How awful! Those people are just preditors! A good class in old fashioned budgeting should be a requirement in every high school.
Oh yes, one lottery winner that did very well was the dean of finance at the Univ. of KY. I think he knew what to do with the windfall.
Well it appears that the three of you have successfully held the fort down, covered all the basis and have successfully extracted today's lesson. I doff my cap.
Our dearly departed Mr.Hartford II clearly demonstrates that common sense is not necessarily an inherited trait nor do windfalls make one any brighter in the long run.