Andrew Mellon: The Financial Prodigy
After Andrew Mellon left college, he wanted to go immediately into business with his brother. His father helped the two start a lumber business. The brothers did not waste their opportunity, using every resource at their disposal to make their business work. This impressed their father, who invited them to join his banking firm in 1880.
Andrew excelled at the bank, so much so that he became its owner. His success in finance gave him the capital to branch out, so he invested in oil and steel. He also had holdings in ship building and construction firms, and had bought plenty of aluminum as well.
He took those interests and used them to finance Charles Martin Hall, who would become the third largest producer of aluminum in the world. By the 1920s, Mellon was one of the wealthiest Americans on record. His tax statements lagged behind John Rockefeller and Henry Ford, but he was no less wealthy.
He used his lifetime of wealth to accomplish several philanthropic acts. The first was establishing a memorial to his father, who had spent so much time nourishing him and his brother. He also founded the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, today part of Carnegie Mellon University. He was also heavily involved in philanthropy throughout World War I, donating extensively to the American Red Cross and Y.M.C.A.
Mellon died of natural causes in Southampton, Long Island of natural causes. He was 82 years old.
About the Author: Samuel Phineas Upham is an investor at a family office/ hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Phin Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media and Telecom group. You may contact Phin on his Samuel Phineas Upham website or Twitter.