banker Businessman philanthropist
Charles Hayden was born on July 8, 1870 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, of English colonial stock. He was the elder of two sons of Josiah Willard and Emma Augusta (Tirrell) Hayden. His father was a prosperous Boston leather and shoe merchant.
Hayden's father wished to send him to Harvard, after his public school education, but at fifteen Charles had already decided that his fortunes lay in copper, the metal essential to the burgeoning electrical industry, and he chose instead the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There he emphasized mining and economics in his studies and graduated in 1890.
After taking the usual (for the well-to-do) "grand tour" of Europe, Hayden returned to Boston, then the principal market for copper mine stocks, and entered the brokerage firm of Clark, Ward & Company. A year's apprenticeship fully served the ambitious young man's purposes.
Borrowing $20, 000 from his father, and joining with thirty-year-old Galen Stone--also associated with Clark, Ward & Company and an erstwhile financial editor of the Boston Advertiser--who also borrowed $20, 000, Hayden founded the brokerage firm of Hayden, Stone & Company in 1892. Though the new partners bought seats on the Boston Stock Exchange, times were hard and customers few. Hayden and Stone had to watch their funds carefully and once even hesitated about spending twenty-five dollars for a list of copper stockholders.
The list proved to be the turning point in their fortunes; with great care Hayden and his partner produced a keen analysis of copper companies' stocks, based upon the conditions of the industry and the current state of the market, and mailed it to each of the names on the list. Orders began to come in with greater regularity, and with the upturn in business conditions after 1896 Hayden, Stone & Company was on its way to prominence.
For a time the firm continued to specialize in copper stocks, but after 1906, when it moved to New York City, it expanded into many fields, particularly during and after World War I. As his personal investments and prestige grew, he was elected to many boards of directors. He was chairman of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, the Adams Express Company, International Nickel Company, Ward Baking Company, and the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria Corporation.
After Stone's death in 1926 Hayden fully dominated the company. He was active in his business until a few weeks before his death, which occurred in New York City when glandular complications followed what had been regarded as a minor operation, performed several months earlier. Funeral services were held at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York City, and he was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachussets.
Charles Hayden is remembered as a prominent banker, businessman and philanthropist. Only two or three Americans have equaled the number and variety of directorships that he held: at the time of his death they numbered fifty-eight, including mining, transit, freight, banking, and manufacturing companies; Hayden played an important part in the development of the Utah, Chino, Ray, and Nevada Consolidated copper companies and their later merger into the Kennecott Copper Company. In 1936 his firm sold to the public $100, 000, 000 in bonds for the financing of the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit lines. For all his accomplishments in finance, Hayden's most outstanding claim to renown was his philanthropy. Just when he became interested in boys' work is not apparent, but it is known that he contributed $100, 000 in 1926 to the Boys Club of New York. Upon his death it was revealed that he had bequeathed the major portion of his estate, or about $50, 000, 000, to establish the Hayden Foundation, for the purpose of financing the erection of boys' club buildings, making grants to charities interested in boys' work, and aiding youth-service organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America. He also gave generously to the Red Cross and to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Hayden was a Republican and served as chairman of the New York State Republican Committee in 1928. He did not, however, join in the general opposition among financiers and Republicans to the Securities and Exchange Commission established by the New Deal administration; he believed that the fast and loose practices of the past deserved to be abolished and that the SEC would restore public confidence in the stock exchange.
Hayden proved himself a brilliant judge of men, managements, and financial data. His ability to spot weaknesses or hidden values in financial matters became legendary during his lifetime.
Ingrained New England thrift governed his regard for time and money. He resented and begrudged an unproductive working moment and was vaguely uncomfortable when he had nothing immediate on hand. Closely budgeting his time, he arranged for board meetings to be held consecutively in his office and limited visitors to a few minutes. From his staff he demanded efficiency and assiduity, and he paid them no better than well.
According to Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. , he was among the few New Yorkers never omitted from a high social invitation list.
James W. Gerard once described Hayden as one of those "who are too busy to hold political office, but determine who shall. "
Hayden never married, once remarking at a business dinner: "I married the firm of Hayden, Stone & Company, and you are all my big family. " Nevertheless, he was a much sought-after bachelor.
