Ralph Reed

Ralph Thomas Reed (July 6, 1890, Philadelphia – January 21, 1968, New York City) was the president of the American Express Company from 1944 to 1960. He joined the company in 1919 as assistant to the controller. He was the person who made the decision to create the American Express charge card, first issued in 1958.

Biography He was born on July 6, 1890 in Philadelphia, to William Arter and Jennie Smith Reed. TIME noted his personal proclivity for lavish international travel and tipping, and that he once "rented the entire first floor of London’s Hotel Savoy to entertain 500 cocktail guests." He was succeeded as president of Amexco in 1960 by Howard L. Clark. He was chairman of the executive committee of Amex from 1960 to 1965, when he retired.

He was on the advisory committee of the Foreign Service Institute of the United States State Department and was also an adviser to the Voice of America. President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him the US representative at the inauguration of the President of Nicaragua in 1957.

He was married to Edna May Young, and their daughter was named Phyllis Ann Reed. A resident of New York City and Palm Beach, Ralph T. Reed died at Roosevelt Hospital in New York in January 1968 after falling ill, at the age of 77.

Boards and committees He was a director of the Western Union Telegraph Company, the American International Life Assurance Company of New York, the First National Bank of West Palm Beach, Florida, and the Lafayette Fellowship Foundation of Philadelphia.

He was on the board of the directors of the American Cancer Society, a trustee of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, a trustee of Roosevelt Hospital, and a trustee of the United States Trust Company of New York.