George Newell Armsby was an American entrepreneur, most noted for his drive toward corporate mergers in the first half of the 20th century: first the merger of California food companies that resulted in, which sold under the Delegate Monte and Sunkist labels.
Background
Armsby was the son of food-packing entrepreneur James Kendall Armsby. He went to work for his father"s concern, J.K. Armsby Company, and on 28 December 1898 he married Leonora Chestnut Wood, daughter of Colorado mining entrepreneur Tingley Sylvanus Wood.
Education
Education public and high schools, Evanston.
Career
Armsby was on the board of numerous corporations, including Curtiss-Wright (where he served as Chairman), Universal Pictures, Bancamerica-Blair, and many others In the mid-1910s he conceived a plan to unite California"s food-packing companies under a single association, and he went to New York to secure the $16,000,000 in financing necessary to do lieutenant Blair & Company and William Salomon & Company lent him the funds, and was founded.
In time, this link would prove crucial to Armsby"s next venture.
After playing a role in the construction of 40 Wall Street, for a time the world"s tallest building and now The Trump Building, Armsby and Cowdin persuaded Giannini"s Bank of America to merge with Blair, which became - in 1931, in the depths of the Great Depression - a major force on Wall Street. Armsby"s business life showed no sign of slowdown as he went into the 1940s.
He remained involved with Curtiss-Wright and Universal Pictures, in fact was a defendant in an anti-trust case against the movie industry in the late 1930s. His death in 1942 was sudden, and the newspaper coverage paid tribute to his vast network of business activity and connections.
Achievements
Membership
Clubs: Brook, Recess, The Creek, Turf and Field, Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht (New York).
Connections
Married Leonora Wood, December 29, 1898. Married second, Colette Touzeau, March 26, 1930. Children: Leonora Wyman, George Newell.