Alfred I. duPont Charitable Trust

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Alfred I. duPont Charitable Trust , until May 2018 the Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust , is an American foundation based in Jacksonville (Florida) . The foundation emerged from the legacy of industrialist Alfred I. du Pont, who died in 1935, and today controls assets of around six billion dollars. The only beneficiary today is the Nemours Foundation.

history

Alfred I. du Pont (1864–1935) had accumulated a fortune of around 40 million dollars through his economic activities. This consisted mainly of shares in DuPont , land holdings in Florida, seven institutions of the Florida National Bank and the properties Nemours Forest in Delaware and Epping Forest in Florida .

From the early 1930s, du Pont, born in 1864, began writing his will with his legal advisor Raymond D. Knight. He signed on November 1, 1932. His wife Jessie received his personal property and the Epping Forest estate with all income for the rest of their lives. A number of relatives and long-term employees received one-off payments or annual payments. His children and brother-in-law Edward Ball each received 5,000 shares, and Jessie's other siblings each received 1,000 shares in the holding company Almours Securities. The rest of the property was transferred to the Alfred I. du Pont Testamentary Trust. In 1939 the value of the fortune was given as 72.5 million US dollars.

Alfred's wife Jessie Ball DuPont, brother-in-law Edward Ball, son-in-law Reginald S. Huidekoper, and the Florida National Bank of Jacksonville acted as trustees of the foundation. In addition, the trustees were commissioned to set up the non-profit Nemours Foundation, which should benefit from the profits from the trust assets.

Edward Ball became the driving force behind the foundation's economic activities in the years that followed. The St. Joe Paper Company was founded with the cash and real estate in Florida . In order to advance the necessary investments, the shares in Almours Securities were sold in 1938 and the annual payments to the beneficiaries were suspended for a time. Ball set up a paper mill and acquired other banks. In order to supply the paper company with wood, appropriate forest areas were acquired. In 1970 the company owned around 405 thousand hectares of forest, making it the largest landowner in Florida. In 1961, the Florida East Coast Railway , which was in bankruptcy, was acquired. In 1966 a change in the law forced the banks to be sold. In the years 1951 to 1962 a profit of about 74 million dollars was made. But only 12% of the profits went to the Nemours Foundation. Almost $ 59 million went to Jessie Du Pont, who passed some of the money on to the Nemours Foundation.

In 1965, after the death of Elbert Dent, there was a personnel bottleneck on the foundation's supervisory board. Jessie Ball Du Pont and Edward Ball were 81 and 77 years old at the time. Therefore three more administrators were elected in addition to William B. Mills. Two of the administrators were vice presidents of the St. Joe Paper Company. In 1967 the supervisory board was expanded to include a further position. Since the will of the will does not provide any information on the scope of the body, a court decided on it.

In 1980 the foundation agreed with the states of Delaware, Florida and the Nemours Foundation on the use of the profits. The annual profit or 3% of the market value (whichever is greater) is to be transferred to the Nemours Foundation. In addition, 50% of the proceeds must be spent in Delaware and at least $ 25 million must be available to support the Nemours Foundation's activities in Delaware.

Edward Ball died in 1981. As a result, the company began to realign, which was completed in 1995 with the filling of several vacant trust positions. This also involved a change in the property's investment strategy. Initially, the shares in St. Joe Paper were reduced from 86% to 69% through sales. In 1995 around 70% of its 1.64 billion assets were invested in St. Joe Paper. The low annual dividend from St. Joe Paper proved problematic despite the large amount of assets. This meant that the target of distributing 3% of the assets could not be achieved. The administrators began to transform the previously industrial production company into a property development company. Since this also did not generate enough income, the trust sold most of its shares in the now known as “St. Joe “trading company. Since then, there has been a requirement not to own more than 5% of a company and at the same time not to invest more than 5% of the trust assets in a company. As part of this strategic transformation, the last institutional manager was given up in 2005.

Representatives of the state of Delaware accuse the foundation and the Nemours Foundation repeatedly of using too little funds in this state, contrary to the will of Alfred I. du Pont.

Controlled companies

The main controlled companies were:

A new investment strategy means that no company will hold more than 5%.

Nemours Foundation

The income from the trust will only benefit the Nemours Foundation. This organization to support and help sick children was founded in Florida in 1936 by will. In 1940 the Alfred I. duPont Institute Children's Hospital and Research Facility was opened in Wilmington (Delaware) . After the death of Jessie Du Pont in 1970, the will of the will was subjected to judicial review. As a result, the foundation was given the opportunity not only to provide children with orthopedic help, but also to ensure comprehensive health care (including with its own hospitals).

1979–1984 the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington was put into operation. The Nemours SeniorCare program was launched in 1981 to provide health care to low-income elderly people. In the same year the Hope Haven Children's Hospital in Jacksonville (Florida) was acquired. From 1991 children's clinics were opened in Jacksonville , Pensacola and Orlando .

Foundation management

Originally the foundation was run by three personal and one institutional trustees. Alfred I. Du Pont's brother-in-law, Edward Ball, became the first chairman. He was succeeded in 1981 by Winfred L. Thornton , Chief Executive Officer of St. Joe Paper and Florida East Coast Industries . Hugh M. Durden, a former board member of Bank Wachovia , has been chairman of the board since January 2005 . Since Alfred Du Pont Dent left the company in 1986, no descendants of the foundation's founder have been represented on the supervisory board.

In 1965–1967, the supervisory board was expanded to include four more seats.

Trustees of the Alfred I. du Pont Charitable Trust
1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th Corporate
September 19, 1939-26. September 1970: Jessie Ball Du Pont September 19, 1939-24. June 1981: Edward Ball (Chairman) September 19, 1939-28. June 1943: RS Huidekoper 1939-1989 Florida National Bank
December 4, 1943-8. May 1965: Elbert Dent
May 10, 1965-21. August 1997: William B. Mills May 10, 1965-19. May 1994: Thomas Coldewey May 10, 1965-10. January 1986: Alfred Du Pont Dent May 10, 1965-7. January 1966: AL Hargraves
December 4, 1967-31. May 2000: Jacob C. Belin since December 4, 1967: Winfred L. Thornton (Chairman from July 1, 1981 to December 31, 2004) 1990-2001: First Union Corporation
January 18, 1995-31. January 2017: Herbert H. Peyton since January 18, 1995:

John F. Porter III

since July 25, 2000:

John S. Lord

January 18, 1995-31. July 2014: WT Thompson III since January 18, 2005: Hugh M. Durden (Chairman) since January 9, 2014–30. June 2016: Richard T. Christopher 2001-2005: Wachovia
since January 31, 2017:

Thomas G. Kuntz

since July 2016:

Geoffrey M. Rogers

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Mills v. Ball, 380 Sun. 2d 1134 | Casetext. Retrieved January 22, 2019 .
  2. ^ Alfred I. duPont's dying wish. Retrieved January 22, 2019 .
  3. ^ Delaware's Nemours Foundation At Center Of Controversy. June 18, 2012, accessed January 22, 2019 .