Henry Osborne Havemeyer was an American busimessman. He founded and became president of the American Sugar Refining Company in 1891.
Background
Henry Havemeyer was born on October 18, 1847, in New York City, New York, United States, the son of Frederick Christian and Sarah Osborne (Townsend) Havemeyer. He was a member of a family long identified with the sugar industry in America. The family had already amassed wealth from the sugar trade. When Henry was fourteen years old his grandfather, Frederick Christian, died leaving an estate of $3, 000, 000. His father had been a partner of a cousin, William Frederick, who was three times mayor of New York.
Education
Notwithstanding the affluence into which he was born, Henry received barely the equivalent of a high-school education and was then apprenticed in the sugar-refining business.
Career
At the time of Henry's entrance into the organization the processes had undergone great changes since the Havemeyer brothers from Germany had set up their little refinery in lower Manhattan some sixty years before. Large plants had been erected on the Brooklyn waterfront and important economies had been effected in the handling of imported raw sugar. In course of time Henry and his older brother Theodore came into a controlling interest in the Brooklyn refineries during a period of rapid expansion in the industry. Both brothers knew the technology of the business, and Henry, in addition, was experienced in buying and selling. In 1887 they succeeded in forming a merger of all the important refining interests in New York and Brooklyn (controlling fifteen plants in all), to be known as the Sugar Refineries Company. Henry Havemeyer was made president.
Soon the combine, which came to be known as the sugar trust, was attacked in the courts. A lengthy litigation followed, and finally, in June 1890, the court of appeals decided unanimously against its legality and the necessary steps for its dissolution were at once taken. The corporation was reorganized in 1891 under a New Jersey charter as the American Sugar Refining Company and was not thereafter impeded by legal proceedings. In the reorganization Henry Havemeyer took charge of the financial side of the operation. He now had a considerable acquaintance in Wall Street and could command support among capitalists because he was a dividend producer. He was a persistent advocate of the lowering of tariff barriers to the importation of raw sugar, but joined other manufacturers in demanding protection for the finished product. It was in his administration that the long and bitter contest took place with John Arbuckle, the coffee merchant.
With wealth and leisure, Havemeyer was able to indulge his taste for country life. On the shore of Great South Bay, Long Island, he had an estate valued in his lifetime at $250, 000.
Achievements
At Havemeyer’s death, in 1907, the American Sugar Refining Company, still under his direction, owned more than twenty-five plants and manufactured approximately half of the sugar consumed in the United States.
Personality
Being a partial person, he took part in philanthropic activities. Havemeyer was a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History. He and his brothers gave Havemeyer Hall for a School of Mines to Columbia University as a memorial for their father Frederick C. Havemeyer Jr. who studied at Columbia College from 1821-1823. Havemeyer gave a school to the Town of Greenwich, Connecticut.
Interests
Havemeyer was an amateur violinist. He was a student of noted violinist Frederick Mollenhauer. He was also collector of European art objects. His art collection was the largest single donation to the Metropolitan museum of art in New York City.
Connections
Havemeyer was twice married: first to Mary L. Elder, and then to her niece, Louisine W. Elder.
