Paul Mellon

Paul Mellon ( born June 11, 1907 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, † February 1, 1999 in Upperville, Virginia) was an American entrepreneur, philanthropist and patron of the arts.

Origin

The basis of the assets of the Mellon family had put Paul's grandfather Thomas Mellon ( 1813-1908 ). This had emigrated as a Protestant farmer's son in 1818 from Northern Ireland to the United States and initially had successfully worked as a lawyer before he founded the Mellon Bank. His son, Andrew William Mellon (1855-1937) later took over the management of the Bank and also invested in shipyard, oil, steel and construction companies. After Andrew William Mellon's marriage to 20-year- younger Englishwoman Nora McMullen 1901 took their first child Ailsa ( 1901-1969 ) to the world. Six years later, Paul Mellon was born. After the parents divorced in 1912, the children grew up with their father.

Life

Paul Mellon studied at Yale University, where he was a member of a prestigious secret society of the " Scroll and Key", and deputy editor of the Yale Daily News. After graduating from Yale, he went to England at Clare College to study a college of Cambridge University, and completed his studies in 1931 with a Bachelor (BA ) from. He then served as U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James. In 1933 Paul Mellon back to Pittsburgh and worked at Mellon Bank. In 1935 he married Mary Conover Brown and the couple moved to Virginia. After his father's death in 1937, Paul Mellon inherited along with his sister Ailsa Mellon Bruce ( 1901-1969 ), the considerable wealth and was one of the richest men in the United States. In 1940 he enrolled at St. John 's College in Annapolis, Maryland, one - but after six months he joined the United States Army. He served with the Office of Strategic Services in Europe and rose to the Major. After the death of his first wife, she died after an asthma attack, Paul Mellon married his second wife Rachel Lloyd Lambert.

The image of "The Walk, Woman with a Parasol " by Claude Monet arrived in 1965 in the possession of the founding President of the National Gallery of Art, Paul Mellon, which it made ​​in 1983 to the Museum as a gift. It belongs to a collection of outstanding works, one of which according to the statute of the National Gallery only a certain number can be borrowed at the same time always.

Awards

Autobiography

• Paul Mellon: Reflections in a Silver Spoon, (1992 ) ISBN 0-688-09723-5