Charles Dana

Background

Charles A. Dana was born on April 25, 1881, in New York City to Charles Dana (1824-1906), a businessman and philanthropist originally from Brandon, Vermont, who worked with the Vanderbilt family until he retired.

Education

Columbia University; Columbia Law School.

Career

Dana received a Bachelor of Arts and law degree from Columbia University and then became a prosecutor with the New York District Attorney"s office. Dana first gained publicity for his work during the trial of the murderer of architect Stanford White in 1907. Dana allied himself with Governor Charles Evans Hughes and Theodore Roosevelt, eventually managing one of Roosevelt"s campaigns.

In 1914, Dana entered the business world, leading Spicer Manufacturing and then in 1946 establishing the Dana Corporation, which produced automobile and mechanical parts.

He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1978. After acquiring a sizable fortune, Dana began donating large sums to hospitals and small universities, including Bates College, Colby College, Davidson College, and Tufts University.

In 1950 Dana founded the Dana Foundation, which originally focused on higher education, later focusing on brain science and other scientific research on human health. Dana died in Wilton, Connecticut and was buried in Brandon, Vermont.

Achievements

• As a reporter for the New York Tribune Dana gained nationwide fame in the 1840s when he filed widely reprinted stories from Europe on several revolutionary movements.
  
  With George Ripley, Dana edited "The New American Cyclopaedia. " He also edited a highly successful American verse anthology "The Household Book of Poetry" (1857), and among his books were "Recollections of the Civil War" (1898) and "The Art of Newspaper Making" (1895).
  
  Dana's Sun was an immediate success, and it dominated New York journalism for about 15 years.

Membership

Dana was a member of the New York State Assembly (New York Company, 27th Doctorate) in 1910 and 1912.

Connections

Spouse:

Eunice MacDaniel

Daughter:

Zoe Dana Underhill

Son:

Paul Dana

References

• Meyer's Universum, or Views of the Most Remarkable Places and Objects of All Countries, Vol. 1: In Steel Engravings by Distinguished Artists, With ... in Europe and America (Classic Reprint)
• The New American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, Volume 10
• The New American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, Volume 4
• The United States Illustrated; In Views of City and Country. with Descriptive and Historical Articles, Ed. by Charles A. Dana. Vol. 2 : The West(Hardback) - 2011 Edition
• Proudhon and His Bank of the People: Being a Defence of the Great French (Classic Reprint)
• Recollections of the Civil War: With the Leaders at Washington and in the Field in the Sixties (Classic Reprint)
• Lincoln and His Cabinet: A Lecture Delivered on Tuesday, March 10, 1896, Before the New Haven Colony Historical Society (Classic Reprint)
• A Centennial History of the City of Chicago
• Eastern journeys: some notes of travel in Russia, in the Caucasus, and to Jerusalem
• The art of newspaper making : three lectures
• Recollections of the Civil War: With the Leaders at Washington and in the Field in the Sixties - War College Series