Whitefoord Russell Cole

Whiteford Russell Cole (January 14, 1874 – November 17, 1934) was an American businessman. He was the president of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad from 1926 to 1934, and a director of many companies. During the railroad strike actions of 1921–1922, he threatened his workers with dismissal and loss of pensions. His mansion in Louisville, Kentucky, is the official residence of the president of the University of Louisville.

Early life Whiteford Russell Cole was born on January 14, 1874, in Nashville, Tennessee. His father, Edmund William Cole, was a Confederate veteran and railroad executive; his mother, Anna Russell, was a philanthropist. His maternal uncle, Whitefoord Russell, was a Confederate veteran, and his maternal great-uncle was a professor at the University of Georgia and Berlin University. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1894.

Career Cole was appointed as a director of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway at the age of 26, in 1900. In 1921–1922, when his railroad workers went on strike after their wages were lowered by 12 percent by the U.S. Railway Labor Board, Cole threatened them with dismissal and loss of their pensions. In retaliation, strikers went to his house on West End Avenue, and they "bombarded [it] with bottles until its concrete porch was littered with glass". Cole resigned in 1926.

Cole was the president of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad from 1926 to 1934. At the time of his appointment, B. C. Forbes, the founder of Forbes magazine, noted that it was unusual for a man of privileged upbringing to become the president of a railroad company. As it was the Great Depression, Cole lowered his workers' wages and took a pay cut.

Civic activities and politics Cole served on the board of trustees of the Brookings Institution. Cole was a member of the Nashville Golf and Country Club, the Pendennis Club, the Louisville Country Club, and the Salmagundi Club. His estate was split between his wife and his son (whose trust fund would become available at age 30).