George Newell Armsby

George Newell Armsby (August 10, 1876 – October 25, 1942) was an American entrepreneur, most noted for his drive toward corporate mergers in the first half of the 20th century: first the merger of California food companies that resulted in California Packing Corporation, which sold under the Del Monte and Sunkist labels.

Armsby was on the board of numerous corporations, including Curtiss-Wright (where he served as Chairman), Universal Pictures, Bancamerica-Blair, and many others. He was associated throughout his business life with John Cheever Cowdin, with whom he ran Universal Pictures; they were also both involved in the formation of Transcontinental Air Transport, Inc., which was later a foundation of TWA.

Early life

Armsby was born in Evanston, Illinois, on August 10, 1876, a son of food-packing entrepreneur James K. Armsby.[1] His younger sister was golfer Cornelia Wicker Armsby. He went to work for his father's concern, J.K. Armsby Co., and on December 28, 1898, he married Leonora Wood, daughter of Colorado mining entrepreneur Tingley Sylvanus Wood.

California Packing Corporation

In the mid-1910s he conceived a plan to unite California's food-packing companies under a single association, and he went to New York to secure the $16,000,000 in financing necessary to do it. Blair & Co. and William Salomon & Co. lent him the funds, and California Packing Corporation[2] was founded.

Blair-Salomon

After serving on the Priorities Commission of the War Industries Board, her persuaded his two lenders on the CalPack deal to merge and he went to work for the new concern, Blair & Co., Inc. In time, the new enterprise was bought by Transamerica, and Armsby found himself working under his friend and fellow fruit-grower Amadeo Giannini. In time, this link would prove crucial to Armsby's next venture.

Bank of America-Blair

After playing a role in the construction of 40 Wall Street, for a time the world's tallest building and now The Trump Building, Armsby and Cowdin persuaded A. P. Giannini's Bank of America to merge with Blair, which became - in 1931, in the depths of the Great Depression - a major force on Wall Street.[3][4]

McKesson & Robbins

In January 1940, Armsby headed the committee representing the $3 cumulative preference stock class of McKesson & Robbins, Inc., asking views on the development of a reorganization plan.[5]

Personal life

As his business ventures soared, Armsby's personal life was no less colorful.[6] His marriage to Leonora[7] disintegrated, and in March 1929 she sued for and was granted a divorce in the San Francisco courts, alleging (as was common at the time with unhappy spouses) that Armsby had abandoned her in New York in 1924. The subsequent divorce settlement of $1,000,000 made the papers as far away as Helena, Montana. Notably, Leonora retained the Armsby name until her death in 1962.

Armsby's personal life made the papers next year when, in March 1930, he announced that he was marrying, at age 54, a 36-year-old woman, Colette Touzeau, whom The New York Times and other papers tartly (if apparently accurately) called an ex-showgirl. They did marry that month, in Los Angeles, and remained together until Armsby's death twelve years later.

Later years

Armsby's business life showed no sign of slowdown as he went into the 1940s. He remained involved with Curtiss-Wright and Universal Pictures, in fact was a defendant in an anti-trust case against the movie industry in the late 1930s.

He died in Manhattan's Mount Sinai Hospital on October 25, 1942, aged 66.[8][9][10]

References
  1. Detwiler, Justice B., ed. (1929). Who's Who in California: A Biographical Directory, 1928-29. San Francisco: Who's Who Publishing Co. p. 149.
  2. Bowdidge, Robert. "California Packing Corporation". Packing Houses of Santa Clara County. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  3. "Bancamerica-Blair Corp". National Air and Space Museum. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  4. "BANCAMERICA-BLAIR DROPS NINE OFFICERS; Sweeping Shake-Up Results From Giannini's Victory in Fight for Control. ARMSBY BECOMES HEAD J.M. Grant, Recently Made Transamerica's President, Is Elected Vice Chairman. ONLY 4 OF OLD LIST HELD Several in the Ousted Group Band Together, With Offices In Financial District". The New York Times. March 16, 1932. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  5. "M'KESSON GROUP URGES TAX REFUND; Armsby Committee Advises $3 Preference Holders to Act on Possible Capital Payments WARNS ON REORGANIZATION Letter Asks Insistence on Priorities--Wardall Disclaims Published Earnings Estimates". The New York Times. January 28, 1940. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  6. "Notes of Social Activities in New York and Elsewhere". The New York Times. March 25, 1932. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  7. "ESCAPED 'TRUSTIES' IN NEW GUN HOLDUP; Eight Shots Fired at Mrs. George Armsby in Midnight Attempt to Stop Her Auto. CAR ESCAPES BY SPEEDING Wm. Faversham, the Actor, and Roland Roy Conklin Head Posse Pursuing Bandits". The New York Times. Special. June 24, 1920. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  8. "George N. Armsby, Aircraft Official". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. October 26, 1942.
  9. "George Armsby Dies; Chairman of Board of Curtiss-Wright". The Evening Star. Associated Press. October 26, 1942. p. A-10.
  10. "G. N. Armsby Dies". The Canning Trade. Vol. 65, no. 14. Baltimore. November 2, 1942. p. 26.

Sources
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