Ralph Lowell was an American banker and public official. He served in the United States Army during World War I.
Background
Ralph Lowell was born in the Chestnut Hill section of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, the son of John Lowell, an attorney, and Mary Emlen Hale. A descendant of one of the oldest and most prominent families in Massachusetts, he numbered among his ancestors poets, shipping and textile magnates, scholars, and clergymen. There is even a town named for the family: Lowell, Massachusetts.
Education
Lowell received his early education at the Volkmann School in Boston and at El Rancho Bonito in Mesa, Arizona. He then became a member of the sixth generation of Lowells to attend Harvard when he entered in 1908. He graduated in 1912 with the Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology magna cum laude and with membership in Phi Beta Kappa. In 1955, Ralph received the Doctor of Laws degree from Bates College.
Career
In 1900s Lowell traveled around the world with a friend and Harvard classmate, Richard Wigglesworth. They arrived in Baroda, India, in time to be present at the wedding of Harvard classmate, Prince Jaisinhrao. When Lowell returned to Boston, he became a salesman with the brokerage firm of Curtis and Sanger, where he remained until 1916, when he left to become secretary to the president of the First National Bank of Boston. He left the bank in 1917 to serve in the United States Army. He served in the army until 1919, advancing to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was stationed in Plattsburgh, New York, and later at Camp Lee, Virginia, where he served as the senior instructor in the Officers Training School. Following his discharge, he remained in the army reserves and from 1919 to 1923 served as a civilian aide in Massachusetts to the secretary of war.
When Lowell returned to Boston, he became head of the stock department of Lee, Higginson and Company, and in 1937 he was made a partner and manager of the Boston office of Clark, Dodge and Company. Five years later, he left the brokerage business when he became chairman of the board of the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company, of which he was elected president in 1946. He remained in this position until 1959, acting also as the chief executive officer of the bank. In 1963 he "retired" in order to travel, to devote more time to charitable and civic activities and to spend more time with his family.
Lowell was the perfect example of a proper Bostonian. His family were both "movers and shakers" and humanitarians, and he followed their example. At one time he served on twenty-six boards of directors of corporations and businesses, and he gave his financial expertise in the area of fund-raising to hospitals, charities, and cultural endeavors. One of his outstanding efforts came as a result of a Lowell family bequest. In 1836, under the will of his ancestor John Lowell, Jr. , a family trust was established that created the Lowell Institute. In 1943, Ralph Lowell inherited the trusteeship of the Lowell Institute from its president, A. Lawrence Lowell. Two years later, acting upon the advice of a friend, Harvard president James B. Conant, he organized the Lowell Institute Cooperative Broadcasting Council. The council consisted of thirteen universities and cultural institutions in the Boston area that joined together to prepare programming for adult educational programs for broadcast by a number of area commercial stations. An outgrowth of this early effort was the creation and licensing in 1951 of the radio station WGBH FM, which was devoted entirely to cultural, educational, and noncommercial programming. In 1955, WGBH-TV began regular broadcasting as one of the first educational television stations in the nation. In 1965 it honored Lowell by naming its studios for him.
Harvard was another of Lowell's primary interests. He was a member of its policy-making Board of Overseers and served as its president in the years 1957-1958. He was class treasurer and class agent of the class of 1912. Lowell also was a trustee for a number of schools in the Boston area. As Lowell's hair grew white, he reminded one of former president William Howard Taft.
Achievements
Connections
On September 1, 1917, Lowell married Charlotte Loring, the daughter of Lindsley Loring, a businessman in the Boston suburb of Westwood. They had seven children.