William Averell Harriman

November 15, 1891 — July 26, 1986

Tall, dark, and handsome, W. Averell Harriman was an enormously talented businessman who never took his father’s wealth and success for granted. His father, E.H. Harriman, was a railroad tycoon and Chairman of Union Pacific Railroad. He died just as Averell was beginning his freshman year at Yale, leaving behind one of America’s largest fortunes. Despite his family’s wealth and position, when Averell joined Union Pacific, he chose to first learn the trade out on the railroad lines before moving into the executive suite. From there he expanded his business empire into the banking, mining, shipping, and even media industries, while still finding plenty of time for sports like polo (winning the Championship of the Americas over Argentina in 1928) and skiing (founding Sun Valley, the first western ski resort in America). It was Averell Harriman’s sister, Mary Harriman Rumsey, who encouraged him to support Franklin Roosevelt and join her in the New Deal, which he did in 1937. He formed an unlikely friendship with Roosevelt’s right hand man, Harry Hopkins, who recommended him for the job of Lend-Lease Envoy to Britain, a post he assumed in 1941. Once in London, he formed a close relationship with the Churchill family—not just Winston and Clementine (who found him a most worthy adversary in croquet), but also their children and daughter-in-law, Pamela. London became a family affair for Averell: after his second wife, Marie, chose not to come with him to London because of problems with her eyesight, he encouraged his younger daughter, Kathleen (from his first marriage to Kitty Lanier Lawrence), to join him in London as a war correspondent. With Harry Hopkins’ assistance, she did, and she remained at his side when he became Ambassador to the Soviet Union in 1943.

Photograph: Wikimedia commons, public domain