Franklin D'Olier was born April 28, 1877, in Burlington, New Jersey, United States. He was the son of William and Annie Woolman D'Olier. His father, Irish-born but of French ancestry, was the founder and head of William D'Olier and Company, a prosperous Philadelphia textile firm.
D'Olier graduated from Princeton University in 1898 with the Bachelor of Arts degree.
D'Olier joined the family business in 1989, working briefly as a mill hand in Alabama before assuming an executive position. He was made a partner of the firm in 1901 and became president and treasurer upon his father's retirement in 1913. At that time he also incorporated the business under a new name, Franklin D'Olier and Company.
Upon the United States' entry into World War I D'Olier joined the army as a captain in the Quartermaster Corps. In July 1917 he was sent to France and assigned to organize the Allied Expeditionary Force's salvage program at St. Pierre-de-Court. In a brilliant display of the organizational skill that was one of his greatest assets throughout his career, he marshaled the efforts of some 7, 000 men and women in a salvage operation that resulted in the retrieval and processing of millions of dollars in equipment and supplies. He was discharged as a lieutenant colonel in April 1919.
Earlier in 1919 D'Olier had participated with Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. , and other officers in meetings held in Paris that led to the formation of the American Legion, a veterans' association. At the legion's national convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that November he was elected first national commander of the organization. During his one-year term he lobbied in Washington, D. C. , for veterans' benefits. Despite rank-and-file sentiment to the contrary, D'Olier sought to shift the focus from direct cash bonuses to benefits of a more lasting and significant nature.
Returning to civilian life, D'Olier spent several more years in the textile business, but in 1926, when he was almost fifty years old, made a major shift in his career, becoming vice-president in charge of administration of the Prudential Insurance Company of Newark, New Jersey. He made this change at the urging of Edward D. Duffield, the president of the company and a fellow Princetonian. When Duffield died in 1938, D'Olier became president of Prudential. D'Olier maintained close personal rapport with his subordinates; his administrative style emphasized team loyalty and the delegation of authority.
D'Olier played an important civilian role during World War II. He headed the committee promoting the government's war-bond drives in New Jersey; became chairman of the New Jersey branch of the United Service Organizations (a volunteer citizens' group devoted to providing recreational facilities for servicemen); and in October 1944 became head of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey, a project established by the Department of War under direct authorization from President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Although nearing seventy, D'Olier once again brought his administrative abilities to bear upon the task of organizing a comprehensive appraisal of the industrial and psychological effects of the American strategicbombing effort.
His final public service, in 1947, was as chairman of one of the task forces of the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government headed by former President Herbert Hoover. Having retired from the presidency of Prudential in 1946, D'Olier became chairman of the board, a position he retained until his death.
Franklin D'Olier was one of the original 20 men who initiated The American Legion in France, as well as a person, who was instrumental in perfecting The American Legion in the United States. For his outstanding service in France during World War I, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1919. He was also made a commander of the French Legion of Honor the same year. D'Olier also made a great contribution as vice-president of the Prudential Insurance Company of Newark, New Jersey. He introduced efficient procedures in the firm's operations that helped the company to withstand the stresses of the Great Depression. Later, as the company's president, he oversaw the sometimes litigious transition of the firm from a privately held stock corporation to a mutual company, campaigned successfully for tax concessions from state and local authorities, and furthered the company's entrance into the emerging field of group coverage. As head of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey, D'Olier traveled thousands of miles in Europe and Asia, and oversaw a survey that eventually involved a staff of some 1, 600 people and led to the publication of more than 208 detailed volumes of reports calling for, among other things, the establishment of an air force separate from the army and the creation of the Department of Defense. He was awarded the Medal of Merit in 1946.
On November 11, 1903, he married Helen Kitchen, the daughter of a Philadelphia banker; they had three children. D'Olier is the great grandfather of actor Christopher Reeve.
