Pierre Samuel du Pont (1870-1954) was president of the DuPont company from 1915 to 1919, and served on its Board of Directors until 1940. He also managed General Motors for some time.

Biography

He is the son of Lammot du Pont and great-great-grandson of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, a great French economist (the extra "de Nemours" was added by the original Pierre to ennoble himself after he was elected to the Constituent Assembly). Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours' son, Éleuthère Iréné du Pont, who emigrated to America with his grandfather, founded the DuPont company in 1802. Pierre was born in Wilmington, Delaware and was named after his famous ancestor. He graduated with a degree in chemistry from MIT in 1890 and become assistant superintendent at Brandywine Mills .

He and his cousin Francis G. du Pont developed the first American smokeless gunpowder in 1892 at the Carney's Point plant in New Jersey.

Most of the 1890s, he spent working with the management at a steel firm partly owned by DuPont (primarily by T. Coleman du Pont ), the Johnson Company . Here he learned to deal with money from the company's president, Arthur Moxham . In 1899, unsatisfied with how conservative DuPont's management was, he quit and took over the Johnson Company .

He and his brothers Alfred I . du Pont and T. Coleman du Pont purchased the E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company in 1902, in order to keep the company in family hands, after the death of its president, Eugene I. du Pont . They set about buying smaller powder firms. Until 1914, during Coleman du Pont's illness, Pierre du Pont served as treasurer, executive vice-president, and acting president. In 1915, a group headed by Pierre, which included outsiders, bought Coleman's stock. Alfred was offended and sued Pierre for breach of trust. The case was settled in Pierre's favor four years later, but his relationship with Pierre suffered greatly and they did not speak since then.

Pierre served as DuPont's president until 1919. Pierre gave the DuPont company a modern management structure, modern accounting policies and made the concept of return on investment primary. During World War I, the company grew very quickly due to advance payments on Allied munition contracts. He also established many other DuPont interests in other industries.

Besides DuPont, he also helped manage General Motors for several years. He invested and eventually owned 37 percent of General Motors. When it went bankrupt in 1920, he took over the company, becoming president. In 1923, he came back to become Chairman of the Board at DuPont, while remaining on the Board of Directors at GM. He modernized General Motors, as well, and in 1928, when he retired from the Board of Directors, it was the largest company in the world.

Pierre retired from DuPont's board in 1940.

He also served on the Delaware State Board of Education and donated millions to Delaware's public schools.

Pierre is famous for opening his personal estate, Longwood Gardens, with its beautiful gardens, to the public.

External link

• Pierre S. DuPont Bio