Clarence Dillon

Background

Clarence Dillon was born Clarence Lapowski. His parents were Samuel Lapowski and Bertha Stenbock. Dillon's father was a Polish Jewish immigrant, likely born at Łomża, Poland in 1848. His paternal grandparents were Joshua Lapowski and Paulina Dylion, daughter of a Frenchman, Michel Dylion. Samuel Lapowski eventually emigrated to the United States.

In 1878, his father went to San Antonio, Texas and married Bertha Stenbock one year later. Stenbock was born 1862 in Denver, Colorado, the daughter of Gustav Stenbock, a Swedish immigrant, who was prospecting for lead and silver in the Colorado Western Slope.

In 1884, the family moved to Abilene, Texas. They became naturalized citizens in the Abilene District Court, on September 25, 1891, legally changing the family name to Dillon on September 17, 1901. Samuel Dillon died in San Francisco, California, on June 23, 1912. His wife died in New York City, on January 1, 1951.

Education

Clarence Dillon graduated from Worcester Academy and then Harvard, in 1905.

Marriage and issue

On February 4, 1908, Dillon married Anne McEldin Douglass (b. September 26, 1881, Peoria, Illinois - d. November 8, 1961, Far Hills, New Jersey) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Anne was the daughter of George Douglass (Chillicothe, Ohio, July 19, 1843 - Milwaukee, September 29, 1919) and his wife and second cousin (m. near Lafayette, Ohio, October 6, 1867) Susan Virginia Dun (near Lafayette, August 21, 1846 – Richmond, Virginia, January 8, 1937).

Their son, C. Douglas Dillon (later Secretary of the Treasury, 1961–65) was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1909. Their daughter, Dorothy, was born in 1913 and died on June 8, 2005 in Far Hills, New Jersey. She was predeceased by her husbands, Philip Allen, Sydney Shepherd Spivack and Eric Eweson.

Clarence purchased show dog Fontclair Festoon from Dody Jenkins. This dog would go on to win best-in-show at the Westminster Kennel Club in 1959. The dog was handled by Anne Rogers Clark.

Career

Dillon met William A. Read (1858 - 1916), founder of the Wall Street bond broker William A. Read & Company, through an introduction by his Harvard classmate, William A. Phillips, in 1912. Dillon joined Read's Chicago office in that year and moved to its New York office in 1914. Following Read's death in 1916, Dillon bought a majority interest in the firm. In 1921, company's name was changed to Dillon, Read & Co.

A number of Dillon, Read partners served in senior roles in government, including Dillon and his right-hand man, James Forrestal, who served as Secretary of the Navy, and later, Secretary of Defense. During World War I, Bernard Baruch, Chairman of the War Industries Board, (known as the Czar of American Industry) asked Dillon to be Assistant Chairman of the War Industries Board.

Dillon was a Francophile both because he had French origins and for his own personal tastes. In 1929, he purchased an apartment in Paris where he stayed a part of each year until he was well into his 80s.

An oenophile as well. Dillon negotiated for months to purchase Château Haut-Brion from Bordeaux businessman André Gibert who had controlled the French wine producer since 1923. Dillon ultimately made the acquisition on May 13, 1935 for 2,300,000 francs. Dillon made Seymour Weller, who was the son of his wife’s sister, president of the new company, Société Vinicole de la Gironde, (later Domaine Clarence Dillon). Weller retired as President of the company in 1975. Dillon is said to have purchased Château Haut-Brion because it was his favorite wine. However Haut-Brion is also near Bordeaux, and good riding and hunting land surrounds the estate.