Malcolm Greene Chace

Personal life

Chace was born March 12, 1875 in Central Falls, Rhode Island into the illustrious Chace family. Malcolm's great grandfather Oliver Chace was a textile mill owner, whose company later became Berkshire Hathaway. His grandmother was anti-slavery activist Elizabeth Buffum Chace. His parents were Brown University chancellor Arnold Buffum Chace and Eliza Greene Chace. His son, Malcolm Greene Chace, Jr. and grandson Malcolm Greene Chace III also became directors of Berkshire Hathaway.

Chace attended Brown, but transferred to Yale and graduated from Yale's Sheffield Scientific School in 1896, attaining some fame as a tennis player at both schools. He lived for some time in Providence, Rhode Island, but spent the last 10 years of his life at 60 Sutton Place in New York City and at his summer home in Hyannis, Massachusetts.

Chace's first wife Elizabeth Edwards died in 1947. His second wife Kathleen Dunster, outlived him. He had two sons (Malcolm Greene Chace, Jr. and Arnold B. Chace III) and three daughters.

Tennis career

Malcolm played for both Brown and Yale while still a student. When he graduated from Yale in 1896, he also retired from tennis, but not before setting a record by winning the US Intercollegiate Singles and Doubles titles for three consecutive years (1893–95).

In July 1894 he won the Tuxedo tournament in New York defeating Clarence Hobart in the final in five sets. He successfully defended his title the following year when he was victorious against future seven-time U.S. Championship winner Bill Larned in straight sets.

Chace won the U.S. National Doubles Championship in 1895 and was a doubles finalist in 1896, in both cases partnering compatriot Robert Wrenn. In singles, he reached the semifinals in 1894 and the quarterfinals in 1895 and 1900.

Chace was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1961.

Ice hockey

According to his obituary in the Providence Journal, Chace is "credited with having been the father of hockey in the United States." In 1892, visiting Niagara Falls, New York for a tennis match, he met some Canadian hockey players. Chace put together a team of men from Yale, Brown, and Harvard, and toured "all the way across" Canada as captain of this team.

In 1896, Chace was captain of Yale's ice hockey team, and on February 14, 1896, played in the first intercollegiate hockey match in the United States against Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore's North Avenue Rink. Yale won the game, 2-1, and both goals were scored by Chace.

To honor Chace, Yale created an award in his name, and in 1998 created the position of Malcolm G. Chace Head Hockey Coach. Tim Taylor was the first Yale coach to serve with this title. A portrait of Chace hangs in the Schley Room at Ingalls Rink.

Electric power

Shortly after graduating college, Chace became associated with the introduction of electric power to New England. By 1910 he formed the firm of Chace & Harriman, which built a 24,000 kolowatt power plant on the Connecticut River near Brattleboro, Vermont. Eventually Chace helped develop the New England Power Association and in 1926 he gained control of the Narragansett Electric Lighting Company. In his obituary, the Providence Journal said Chace had been "one of the most influential men in the development of electric power in the Northeast."

Textile mills

In 1926, Chace formed the Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates, Inc, the largest producer of fine cotton goods in the United States. It had mills in Albion, Warren, Anthony, and Fall River. This company later became known as Berkshire Hathaway. He was also president of the Fort Dummer textile mill in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Oil tankers

After World War II, Chace built a fleet of tankers to transport oil to New England. It was the largest independent oil tanker fleet in the US.

Death and burial

Chace died July 16, 1955 (aged 80) at his summer home in Hyannis, Massachusetts and is buried at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, Rhode Island.