biography
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1859–1938)
|
| biography:
| Public utilities executive, born in London, UK. A book-keeper for one of Thomas Edison's agents in England, he went to the USA (1881) to be Edison's personal secretary. By 1889 he rose to become vice-president of the Edison General Electric Co in Schenectedy, NY. He became president of the Chicago Edison Co (1892), and by 1907 all of Chicago's electricity was being generated by his Commonwealth Edison Co, a tribute to his economic management. He pioneered in unifying rural electrification and also in supplying gas. His vast empire of utility companies had been financed by the sale of stock, and after the stock market collapse of 1929 his empire also went under. In 1932 he fled to Greece, but was forced to return to Chicago in 1934. He was tried on mail fraud, bankruptcy, and embezzlement charges, but was acquitted. Some felt he had been made the scapegoat for the whole stock market debacle. Bankrupt, he was reduced to living off modest pensions during his final years in Europe. |
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