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Owen Young | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Young, 1928 | |
| Born | (1874-10-27)October 27, 1874 Stark, New York, U.S. |
| Died | July 11, 1962(1962-07-11) (aged 87) St. Augustine, Florida, U.S. |
| Education | St. Lawrence University (BA) Boston University (LLB) |
| Political party | Democratic |
Owen D. Young (October 27, 1874 – July 11, 1962) was an Americanindustrialist, businessman, lawyer and diplomat at the Second Reparations Conference (SRC) in 1929, as a member of the German Reparations International Commission.[1]
He is known forthe plan to settle Germany's World War I reparations, known as the Young Plan and for the creation of theRadio Corporation of America. Young founded RCA as a subsidiary ofGeneral Electric in 1919; he became its first chairman and continued in that position until 1929. RCA was separated into as another traded company in 1932. This was although they still held a large portion of RCA shares and liquidated by GE in 1986.
Owen D. Young was born on October 27, 1874, on a small farmhouse in the village of Van Hornesville, Town ofStark, New York. His parents’ names were Jacob Smith Young and Ida Brandow and they worked the farm that his grandfather owned. Owen was an only child, his parents lost their first born son before he was born, and his birth was something rejoiced. He was the first male of the family to have a name that was not biblical since they had first arrived in 1750, driven from thePalatinate on the Rhine inGermany by constant war and religious persecution.[2] They were taken in by theProtestantQueen Anne in England, sent to New York in 1710 to act to provide naval stores for the British fleet along the Hudson River, and eventually moving north and west, taking land from the Native Americans before settling along theMohawk.
Owen went to school for the first time in the spring of 1881. He was six years old, and had always been inclined to books and studying. He had a teacher, Menzo McEwan, who taught him for years, and would eventually be responsible for Owen going to East Springfield, one of the few secondary schools that he could afford. Of course, it was not too close to Van Hornesville, which had few secondary education opportunities near it. This took him away from the farm, where his help was needed, but his parents supported his pursuit of education to the point of later mortgaging the farm to send him toSt. Lawrence University atCanton, New York.[3]
He married Josephine Sheldon Edmonds (1870–1935) on June 13, 1898, inSouthbridge, Massachusetts. A few years after Josephine died, he married the fashion designer and businesswoman Louise Powis Clark (1887–1965), a widow with three children.[4]
East Springfield Academy was a small coeducational school and Young greatly enjoyed his time there,[5] making lifelong friends; later in life, he tried to attend all of the reunions. St. Lawrence was a small institute struggling to survive and in serious need of both money and students and Owen Young was a good candidate. It was still expensive enough to cause some hesitance, however. With his father getting on in years, Owen was needed on the farm more than ever. His parents were eventually convinced by the president of the college.
It was there that Young was able to grow as a person in both his education and his faith. He discoveredUniversalism, which allowed for more intellectual freedom, separate from the gloom and hellfire permeating other Christian sects. Young remained a student from September 1890 before becoming an 1894 graduate ofSt. Lawrence University, on June 27. He completed the three-year law course atBoston University in two years, graduatingcum laude in 1896.
After graduation he joined lawyer Charles H. Tyler and ten years later became a partner in that Boston law firm. They were involved in litigation cases between major companies. During college, he not only became a brother of theBeta Theta Pi fraternity, but he also met his future wife Josephine Sheldon Edmonds, an 1886 Radcliffe graduate. He married her in 1898, and she eventually bore him five children.
Young representedStone and Webster in a successful case against GE around 1911 and through that case came to the attention ofCharles A. Coffin, the first president ofGeneral Electric. After the death of GE's General Counsel Hinsdill Parsons in April 1912, Coffin invited Young to become the company's Chief Counsel and Young moved toSchenectady. He became GE's president in 1922 and then in the same year was appointed chairman, serving in that position until 1939. Under his guidance and teaming with presidentGerard Swope, GE shifted into the extensive manufacturing of home electrical appliances, establishing the company as a leader in this field and speeding the mass electrification of farms, factories and transportation systems within the US.
In 1919, at the request of the government, he created theRadio Corporation of America (RCA) to combat the threat of English control over the world's radio communications against America's struggling radio industry. He became its augmentation chairman and served in that position until 1929, helping to establish America's lead in the burgeoning technology of radio, making RCA the largest radio company in the world.[6] In 1928, he was appointed to the board of trustees of theRockefeller Foundation under a major reorganization of that institution, serving on that board also up to 1939.
Young's participation in PresidentWoodrow Wilson's Second Industrial Conference followingWorld War I marked the beginning of his counseling of five U.S. presidents. In 1924, he coauthored theDawes Plan, which provided for a reduction in the annual amount of German reparations. After theAllied Powers had settled their war debts to Washington, a new international body met beginning in 1928 to consider a program for the final release of German obligations; Young acted as chairman.[7] Germany's total reparations were reduced and spread over 59 annual payments. After establishing this "Young Plan", Young was namedTime Magazine'sMan of the Year in 1929. The Young Plan collapsed with the coming of theGreat Depression.Young was also instrumental in plans for a state university system in New York.In 1932, he was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. He did not campaign actively, but his friends promoted his candidacy beginning in 1930 and at the 1932Democratic National Convention. He was highly regarded by candidatesAlfred E. Smith andFranklin D. Roosevelt, and some convention observers speculated that they would support Young in the event of a convention deadlock.
In 1930, he built theVan Hornesville, New York, Central School in his hometown to consolidate all the small rural schools in the area. In 1963, it was renamed Owen D. Young Central School in his honor. Long active in education, Young was a trustee ofSt. Lawrence University from 1912 to 1934, serving as president of the board the last 10 years. The main library of the university is named in his honor.
After Young married Louise Powis Clark in 1937, the couple created a winter estate in Florida that included a formal garden and citrus stand alongState Road A1A. In 1965, Louise gifted the estate to the State of Florida, and it is now the site ofWashington Oaks Gardens State Park.[8]
In 1939, he formally retired to the family farm in New York, where he began dairy farming. He died in Florida on July 11, 1962, following several months of poor health.[1]
More than 20 colleges awarded him honorary degrees. He was an elected Member of both theAmerican Philosophical Society and theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.[9][10] Long interested in education, he was a member of theNew York State Board of Regents, governing body of New York's educational system, until 1946. Then, New York GovernorThomas E. Dewey called upon him to head the state commission that laid the groundwork for theState University of New York system. Although the commission represented a wide range of views and opinions, Young achieved a surprising unanimity that resulted in a report containing recommendations adopted by the legislature. He was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1981 and the Consumer Technology Hall of Fame in 2019.
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| Business positions | ||
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| Preceded by | Chairman ofGeneral Electric 1922–1940 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman ofGeneral Electric 1942–1945 | |
| Awards and achievements | ||
| Preceded by | Cover ofTime February 23, 1925 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| Academics | |
| People | |
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