Daniel K. Ludwig

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Daniel K. Ludwig

Daniel Keith Ludwig (born June 24, 1897 in South Haven , Michigan , † August 27, 1992 in New York City ) was an American shipowner , entrepreneur and philanthropist . Due to his billion dollar fortune, Ludwig was at times the richest man in the world.

Life

After graduating from school, Ludwig was hired as a machinist and designer for various shipping companies. He went into business for himself at the age of 19 by converting an old steamboat into a barge and transporting molasses on the Great Lakes . In 1925 he founded the American Tankers Corporation and began moving oil. In the 1930s he founded National Bulk Carriers . He designed and built the largest tankers in the world to date, which are still considered a milestone in the history of shipbuilding today. Through the commercial success of his shipping company, which grew to become the largest in the history of the United States and was mainly active in the oil business (its tanker fleet had a carrying capacity of around five million tons), as well as through investments in land and real estate, among other things, Ludwig made a billion dollar fortune. Among other things, he owned his own mines, oil fields, a shipyard in Japan and a bank. In 1955 he took over the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company , which built the planned town of Westlake Village in California in the 1960s .

In Brazil , he founded the Jari project , which in the 1970s replaced rainforest on an area roughly the size of Belgium with eucalyptus plants, which promised a quick profit. However, the project failed because the soils became impoverished after a few years of monoculture . Then Ludwig returned the land to the government.

Ludwig, who always lived very withdrawn, was an important art collector, patron and philanthropist . In 1971 he founded the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research , which to this day is partially financed from his foundation's assets. As of 2014, his donations totaled $ 2.5 billion.

literature

  • Jerry Shields: The invisible billionaire, Daniel Ludwig . Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1986, ISBN 0-395-35402-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Report in Die Zeit from November 19, 1976@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.zeit.de
  2. ↑ 20th Century American Leaders Database ( Memento of the original from August 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hbs.edu
  3. ^ Daniel Keith Ludwig britannia.com , accessed August 24, 2020
  4. ↑ DK Ludwig; Made Fortune in Shipping Ventures latimes.com , August 29, 1992, accessed August 24, 2020
  5. ↑ Estate gives millions for cancer research theacorn.com , January 16, 2014, accessed August 24, 2020

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ludwig, Daniel K.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ludwig, Daniel Keith
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American shipowner, entrepreneur, and philanthropist
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH South Haven , Michigan
DATE OF DEATH August 27, 1992
Place of death New York City