Norman B. Ream

Norman Bruce Ream (1844–1915) was an American businessman. A Civil War veteran, Ream became a millionaire by investing in steel, railroads, insurance, and banking.

Early life Norman B. Ream was born on November 5, 1844, in Harnedsville, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. He was educated in public schools. He became the youngest man to be promoted from private to First-Lieutenant in the Union Army. However, he was "incapacitated" by war wounds. Later, with Robert Todd Lincoln, Ream was the executor of Pullman's will.

Ream served on the board of directors of the U.S. Steel. as well as the Boards of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the Chicago and Erie Railroad, the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway, the Erie Railroad, the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway, the Pere Marquette Railway, and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Additionally, he served on the board of trustees of the Field Columbian Museum in Chicago. Meanwhile, his wife attended fundraisers for Bryn Mawr College, a women's college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

Personal life Ream married Caroline Thompson Putnam in 1876 in Madison, New York. They resided at 1901 Prairie Avenue in Chicago. Another son, Louis, who graduated from Princeton University and worked for the New York Trust Company, also eloped, marrying Eleanor Pendleton, a stage actress. Meanwhile, Edwin King Ream, eloped and married Nellie Speed Armstrong, the granddaughter of James Speed, who served as the 27th United States Attorney General, in 1911. Yet another son, Norman P. Ream, married Mary Green, the daughter of Adolphus W. Green, the founder of the National Biscuit Company on whose board Ream had served, in 1916. Another daughter, Marion Buckingham Ream, first married Redmond B. Stevens, and later Anastasy Vonsyatsky, a Polish-born fascist leader.

Death and legacy Ream died on February 9, 1915, at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. His pallbearers included Adolphus W. Green and Elbert Henry Gary.