Mott, Charles Stewart, , New Jersey 1875 1973 Male Industrialist Philanthropist industrialist and philanthropist, was born in Newark, N. J. , the son of John Coon Mott and Isabella Turnbull Stewart.
His father was involved with a well-established family cider and vinegar business, the Genesee Fruit Company.
His business interests now included a firm his father and uncle had bought in 1896 and reorganized as the Weston-Mott Company, which manufactured wire wheels for bicycles.
Education
In 1892, following graduation from high school in Hoboken, N. J. , Mott enrolled in the Stevens Institute of Technology, also in Hoboken, majoring in mechanical engineering.
He studied pure yeast culture at Jorgenson's Laboratory in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the chemistry of fermentation at the Technische Hochschule in Munich.
When he returned in 1895, he still preferred mechanical engineering and returned to Stevens, where he received his degree in 1897.
Career
He also had time to tour England and visit Paris.
He participated in the bombardment of Santiago, Cuba, and saw action in nine engagements as a gunner's mate first class on the USS Yankee before returning to civilian life.
This was the one family enterprise where Charles's interest in mechanical engineering could be fully utilized.
In 1900, he became superintendent of the factory, while continuing with the carbonating business.
Doolittle and Mott kept pace with the rapidly growing auto industry and by 1903 had bought out the other stockholders.
In 1905, William Durant approached them about relocating their plant to Flint, Mich. , as part of his plan to make that city the major American automobile manufacturing center and headquarters of his firm, to be called General Motors.
Within a year, Doolittle died and Mott acquired his stock under their partnership agreement.
Mott nevertheless subscribed to stock in several of Durant's ventures and was well acquainted with his activities.
He very much wanted to add Weston-Mott to General Motors and continued discussions with Mott.
In 1913, Mott transferred his 51-percent ownership share of Weston-Mott to General Motors in exchange for General Motors stock.
He also recruited a number of individuals who made major contributions to GM's development, including William S. Knudsen.
His duties at General Motors rarely absorbed his full energy, however, and Mott invested in a number of other businesses.
In 1926, Mott established the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, with two thousand shares of General Motors stock, to support projects that would improve life in Flint.
Subsequent gifts greatly expanded the resources of the Mott Foundation, and it expanded its scope to encompass the entire world.
She died in an accident in 1924.
Despite his great wealth Mott lived frugally.
He bought his suits off the rack at Smith, Bridgman and always drove one of General Motors' lower-priced cars.
[Mott's papers are at the General Motors Institute in Flint, Mich.
See also Clarence H. Young and William A. Quinn, Foundation for Living: The Story of Charles Stewart Mott and Flint (1963); and Clarence H. Young, In Memoriam: Charles Stewart Mott (1975).
An obituary is in the New York Times, Feb. 18, 1973. ]
Religion
Mott remained independent of Durant's rapidly expanding empire even after Durant acquired 49 percent of Weston-Mott in 1908.
Politics
He sought the Republican nomination for governor in 1920 but was defeated in the primary.
Connections
Mott's father persuaded him to interrupt his engineering studies and spend a year in Europe to study several topics related to the interests of the Genesee Fruit Company.
divorced:
Dee
The following year he married Dee Van Balkom Furey; they divorced the same year.
married:
Ethel
Mott married Ethel Culbert Harding on June 14, 1900; they had three children.
married:
Mitties
In 1927, he married Mitties Butterfield Rathbun, who died in 1928.
married:
Dee
The following year he married Dee Van Balkom Furey; they divorced the same year.
married:
Ruth
He married Ruth Mott Rawlings on Oct. 13, 1934; they had three children.
children:
Ethel
Mott married Ethel Culbert Harding on June 14, 1900; they had three children.
children:
Ruth
He married Ruth Mott Rawlings on Oct. 13, 1934; they had three children.
