Francis I. duPont & Co. Genealogy: Part X

-

Glore, Forgan & Co., Continued

Glore, Forgan & Co. (founded 1937, Chicago)

During the mid-20th century, Glore, Forgan & Co. went through a generational transition, and, like many other banking partnerships, it did so under the shadow of a worldwide conflict. Like many in the investment community, the partners of Glore, Forgan & Co. also interrupted their work to serve in World War II. Charles Glore, who had also served in World War I under General Pershing, became the Illinois chairman of the British War Relief Society. J. Russell Forgan served in the Office of Strategic Services "collecting, assessing and disseminating information about German defenses and troop positions before the Normandy landings."

Charles F. Glore died in 1950, but his two sons – Charles F. Glore, Jr. (1920-1976), who studied at Babson Institute, and Robert Hixon Glore (1923-2008), a Wharton graduate (1948) – joined Glore, Forgan & Co. in the postwar period. J. Russell Forgan's son, J. Russell Forgan, Jr. (1930-2001), graduated from St. Mark's School (MA) and Princeton University (1952). He served in the Korean War and in 1968 joined the New York firm of DeCoppet & Doremus (founded 1891), an odd-lot broker, which specialized in non-standard shares of stock.

Glore Forgan, Wm. R. Staats, Inc. (founded 1965, New York)

The 1960s proved to be the start of a challenging period in the firm's history, which led the partners to combine Glore, Forgan & Co. with other firms. In 1965, the firm merged with Wm. R. Staats & Co., a Los Angeles firm founded in 1887. According to The New York Times, the partners believed that their different geographic locales would complement the firms. J. Russell Forgan became chairman and chief executive officer of the new firm, called Glore Forgan, Wm. R. Staats, Inc. Maurice H. Stans (1908-1998) of the Staats firm was made president. Charles J. Hodge became the chairman of the executive committee, and Donald Royce, senior partner of the Staats firm, became vice chairman.

Maurice H. Stans. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Francis I. duPont & Co. Genealogy: Part XIII

-
Image
William R. Staats & Co., Continued F.I. duPont, Glore Forgan & Co. (1970) Wall Street was particularly interested in the fate of the new firm because duPont, Hirsch and Glore Forgan were all considered "substantial houses prior to the merger, but all were experiencing some kind of financial difficulty." The New York Times reported, "Many of Wall Street's managers believe mergers will provide the key to that future, since they theoretically will enable brokerage houses to find economies of scale that were unavailable to them before F.I. duPont, Glore Forgan & Co. probably will be a case study for the whole industry." The hope was that the merger would diversify the firm's services and its geographic footprint while also cutting costs. Hirsch & Co. was known to have "retail strength in metropolitan New York and Florida as well as Europe" while "Glore was a major-bracket investment banking house with a retail system largely
Read more

Francis I. duPont & Co. Genealogy: Part XVII

-
Image
Walston & Co., Inc., Continued Death of the Founder (1964) Walston & Co., Inc. suffered a terrible blow on May 5, 1964, when its founder, Vernon Walston, committed suicide at his office at 72 Wall Street. On his way to work that morning, he had told his chauffeur, Gustav Puigdollers, that he was going to kill himself. When they got to the office, Puigdollers went to call Walston's wife. Walston was a big-game hunter and his office was full of trophies from his hunting trips and a double barreled shotgun. Walston went into his office, took the shotgun and shot himself through the mouth. No note was left, but his associated noted that Walston has been looking "despondent" and speaking "incoherently." According to The New York Times , the day before Walston killed himself, he had a telephone interview with a Times reporter where, "speaking in an agitated voice, he expressed great dissatisfaction with the amount of stock the Walston firm was
Read more

Francis I. duPont & Co. Genealogy: Part I

-
Image
In 1974, DuPont Walston was liquidated. At that time, the histories of Francis I. duPont & Co., Glore Forgan & Co., Wm. R. Staats, Inc., Hirsch & Co., A.C. Allyn & Co. and Walston & Co., six members of the Ford Motor Company Syndicate, came to an end. Over the next several posts, we will take a closer look into the histories of each of these firms and how they all eventually became a part of DuPont Walston. Origins Eleuthére Irénée du Pont (1771-1834) founded his namesake firm, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., a chemical manufacturer, in 1802. A French immigrant and the son of a watchmaker, E.I. du Pont demonstrated an interest in the study of gunpowder from a young age. His mentor was Antoine Lavoisier , the French chemist. In 1799, in the aftermath of the French Revolution, du Pont's family immigrated to the United States. Though he returned briefly to France in 1801, du Pont settled in Delaware, where he founded the first of many gunpowder mills.
Read more