Paul Butler

Paul Butler (1892–1981) was an American heir, businessman and polo player.

Biography

Early life Paul Butler was born on June 23, 1892, in Chicago, Illinois. His grandfather, Julius Wales Butler, was the founder of the J.W. Butler Paper Company on State Street in Chicago in 1841, the oldest family owned business in Chicago.

Business He served as President of his family business, the Butler Paper Company, from 1930 to 1965.

He was a member of the General Society of Colonial Wars, the Chicago Historical Society, the Chicago Art Institute and the Chicago Museum of Natural History,

Polo

In 1922, Paul and his father Frank Osgood Butler registered the Oak Brook Polo Club with the United States Polo Association (USPA), making the club the fourth oldest in the United States. When the Meadowbrook Club was taken over by golfers some time after World War II, the Governors of the USPA came to Oak Brook to meet with Paul Butler to ask him to host the U.S. Open at Oak Brook, which by then had 14 polo fields. Paul agreed to host the U.S. Open, and it was held in Oak Brook for 23 of 25 years between 1954 and 1978. During that time the polo and the entire Oak Brook Sports Corp, as the Butler's Oak Brook land holdings were known, were managed either by Paul Butler's son Michael or his daughter Jorie. Jorie managed the entire operation from 1968 until the early 1980s.

He won six U.S. Open Polo Championships and four Butler Handicap titles.

He was Honorary Chairman of the United States Polo Association from 1966 to 1972, succeeding Harry Payne Whitney and Robert Early Strawbridge Jr.

He served on the Board of Governors of the USPA for 29 years.

He was inducted in the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame on March 3, 1995.

Personal life He was married three times, to Sarah Anne Josephine Rooney, Marjorie Stresenreuter (later Mrs William Dunaway) and Jean Buckley. From his first marriage he had one son, Norman Butler, also a polo player. From his second marriage he had three children, Michael Butler, a theatrical producer and businessman, who is the father of Adam Butler, a polo player, and grandfather of Liam Butler; Frank Osgood Butler II who has a daughter, photographer Reute Butler.

Death Butler was killed on June 24, 1981, one day after his 89th birthday, when he was struck by a car in front of his home in Oak Brook. Butler had walked out in front of his home at 1000 Oak Brook Road, at dusk, possibly to take photographs, when he was hit by a driver. At the time, his net worth was estimated at "between $50 million and $125 million".