RUBBER MAGNATE’S DEATH

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 February 1938, Page 14

RUBBER MAGNATE’S DEATH

MR. HARVEY S. FIRESTONE. The death has occurred at Miami, Florida, of Mr. Harvey S. Firestone, president of the Firestone Tyre and Rubber Company, at the age of 6.1. Mr. Firestone was born on a farm m the smajl town of Columbiana, Ohio, on December 20, 1868, the son of Benjamin and Catherine Flickinger Firestone. He received grammar school, high school, and business college education, winning the scroll of distinction from the Spencerian School of Commercial Accounts and Finance, Cleveland. Later he was awarded the honorary degrees of Doctor of Business Administration, Mount Union College, Ohio, and LL.D., Kenyon College, Ohio. The three greatest interests pf Mr. Firestone’s life, it was said, were his family, the organisation, and the Church.

In 1595 ho married Idabelle. Smith, and there are fopr sons and a daughter. The eldest son is Harvey Samuel Firestone, jun-, founder ol\ numerous Firestone organisations, and vice-pre-sident or director of others. “I know of no finer family than the Firestone family,” said an admirer once. .“I know no finer father than the Firestone children have. I know of no finer young men who have entered the business than Harvey, jun., and Russell.”

An Episcopalian, Mr. Firestone’s association with the church was a long and close one, and in 1922 he was honoured with the presidency of the Ohio Federation of Churches. He frequently referred tn his mother as a woman of Christian ideals, and recalled the boyhood days when every Sunday his family attended the Grace Reformed Church in Columbiana, travelling two miles and a half in a spring waggon. “I used to find that going to church was a hardship,” he onqp said, “but after a man trains himself in appreciation of what the Church will do for him, it becomes easy and natural for him to attend.”

GROWTH OF BUSINESS. In 1900 the Firestone Tyre and Rubber Company, of Akron, Ohio, "was organised, Mr. Firestone opening business in an old building that had been used as a foundry. He installed sec-ond-hand machinery and gathered 17 men, the best employees he could find. One week’s payroll amounted to 80 dollars. By 1918 there were 8000 workers, and 10,000 tyres were produced daily, and 10 years later 12,000 workers produced about 45,000 tyres a day. To-day the employees number more than 40,000. From 1930-32, Mr. Firestone was president of the Firestone Rubber-Com-pany of U.S.A., and from 1932 was chairman of the board. He held the same position in the Firestone Steel Products Company, and the Firestone Park Trust and Savings Bank, and was an officer or director of many other subsidiary companies- He manufactured batteries, spark plugs, brake linings, and several thousand mechanical rubber products and rubber automobile parts. He operated several hundred auto supply and service stores. He was largely instrumental in the investigation of the rubber growing possibilities of the Philippines and South American countries. In Liberia he obtained a lease of 1,000,000 acres of land for rubber plantations, and by 1936, 60,000 acres had been planted. During the Great War Mr. Firestone was a member of the Ohio Council for National Defence, and was instrumental in organising the rubber division of the War Industries Board. He also organised the activities for war work of the Rubber Association of America, of which he was president, 1916-18. He was a member of numerous societies of engineers and chemists, and a director of the American Academy of Tropical Medicine. He wrote in 1922, “Rubber, Its History and Development,” and in 1926, with Samuel Crowther, “Men and Rubber.” Appreciation of Mr. Firestone’s view of wealth and his outstanding service to the citv of Akron was expressed at his sixtieth birthday party. The guests, 1400 in number, included Firestone executives and employees and representatives of every religious denomination in the city. References were made to his gifts to the hospitals, to his gift-to Princeton University of a chapel, and many other gifts to charitable organisations. He gave a yearly scholarship providing four years college education to the high school student writing the best essay on good roads and highway transportation. For his employees he built a magnificent clubhouse and created Firestone Park, including a 36-hole golf course, and the Firestone Savings Bank. To those who asked when he would retire, he would reply: “Never. It has been the joy of my life to watch the business grow from a small concern to a world institution. So I try to be as big as our business —with all its Possibilities for service and happiness.”