Clarence Dillon

Clarence Dillon (born Clarence Lapowski; September 27, 1882 – April 14, 1979)

Early life Dillon was born Clarence Lapowski. His parents were Bertha Stenbock (1862–1951) and Samuel Lapowski (1848–1912), who emigrated to the United States. Dillon's father was a Polish Jewish immigrant, likely born at Łomża, Poland, in 1848. His paternal grandparents were Joshua Lapowski and Paulina Dylion, the daughter of Michel Dylion, a Frenchman.

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. Clarence's father died in San Francisco, California, on June 23, 1912, and his mother died in New York City, on January 1, 1951.

Dillon graduated from Worcester Academy, located in Worcester, Massachusetts, and one of the country's oldest day-boarding schools, and then Harvard University in 1905.

Career

In 1912, Dillon met William A. Read, founder of the Wall Street bond broker firm William A. Read & Company through an introduction by his Harvard classmate, William A. Phillips. Dillon joined Read's Chicago office in that year, later moving to the firm's New York office in 1914. Following Read's death in 1916, Dillon bought a majority interest in the firm and was chosen to head the company.

In 1921, Dillon focused on the beleaguered Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company which was in receivership. He succeeded in crafting a settlement with Goodyear's bankers, creditors, and stockholders as well as raising more than $100 million in funding in an extremely difficult credit market. A lawsuit by previous shareholders alleging that Dillon and his family profited while saddling Goodyear with expensive debt was settled later in 1927. In 1925, Dillon bought the Dodge Brothers Company for $146 million in cash which was the largest such transaction in industrial history at the time. After the acquisition of Dodge, Dillon merged the company with the Chrysler Corporation in 1927 resulting in Chrysler's becoming one of the "big three" in the automobile industry.

A number of Dillon, Read & Co. 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. An oenophile as well. Dillon negotiated for months to purchase Château Haut-Brion from Bordeaux businessman André Gibert who had controlled the French wine producer since 1923. Dillon ultimately made the acquisition on May 13, 1935, for 2,300,000 francs. Dillon made Seymour Weller, who was the son of his wife's sister, president of the new company, Société Vinicole de la Gironde, (later Domaine Clarence Dillon). Weller retired as president of the company in 1975. Dillon is said to have purchased Château Haut-Brion because it was his favorite wine. However Haut-Brion is also near Bordeaux, and good riding and hunting land surrounds the estate.

Clarence purchased miniature poodle 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.

Personal life

On February 4, 1908, Dillon married Anne McEldin Douglass (1881–1961) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Anne was the daughter of George Douglass and his wife and second cousin Susan Virginia Dun. Together, Clarence and Anne were the parents of a son and daughter:

Clarence Douglass Dillon (The second "s" was later dropped from his middle name.) Dorothy Anne Dillon (1913–2005), who married Philip Elsworth Allen in 1934. After their divorce, she married Dr. Sydney Shepherd Spivack (1907–1969), a sociologist, in 1965. After his death in 1969, she married Eric Eweson in 1976, who died in 1988.