William Boyce Thompson
American mining engineer, financier, and philanthropist (1869–1930)
William Boyce Thompson (May 13, 1869 – June 27, 1930) was an American mining engineer, financier, prominent in the Republican party, philanthropist, and founder of Newmont Mining. Thompson was one of the early twentieth century mine operators that discovered and exploited vast copper deposits that revolutionized Western American mining, and reaped tremendous fortunes.2
From Wikipedia’s article on William Boyce Thompson (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Born May 13, 1869, died Jun 27, 1930.1
About
The William Boyce Thompson School in Yonkers, New York, is named after him.
From Wikipedia’s article on William Boyce Thompson, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2
Companies
- Newmont Mining CorporationFounder10
Early life and education
- Date not recordedPhillips Exeter Academy3
Career
Occupation: diplomat, banker, mining engineer, engineer.5
- Date not recordedFounded Newmont Mining Corporation4
Personal life
- BornMay 13, 1869, Virginia City6
- DiedJun 27, 1930, Yonkers7
- CitizenshipUnited States8
- SpouseGertrude Hickman Thompson9
The Boyce-Thompson family listed by ancestry/generation:
William Boyce Thompson (1869–1930) (m. Gertrude Hickman)
Margaret Thompson Biddle (1897–1956) (1st m. 1916 Theodore Schulze II div. unk.) (2nd m. 1931 Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr. div. 1936)
Theodore Schulze III (1920–1962) (m. Joyce Ward)
Joyce Schulze (1950-2015)
Margaret "Peggy" Boyce Schulze (1921–1964) (1st m. 1939 Prince Alexander zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst) (2nd m. Morton Downey)
Catherine Hohenlohe (1942)
Christian-Conrad Hohenlohe (1945)
From Wikipedia’s article on William Boyce Thompson (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Philanthropy
Plant research
In 1920, he decided to establish the Boyce Thompson Institute, and endowed it with $10 million, a veritable fortune in the 1920s. He hoped that this "seed" money would enable the institute to acquire the very best scientists, equipment, and supplies and then to develop relationships with industry and the government to help finance research.
Other causes
He donated money for parks and libraries at many of his mining camps, including the Thompson-Hickman Memorial Library in his birthplace, Virginia City; his wife Gertrude Hickman Thompson officially transferred the building to the city in 1918. He donated $50,000 for a park in Butte.
To his alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy, Thompson donated $2 million during his lifetime. His donations created the Boyce Thompson science building, a new gymnasium in 1923, squash courts, a baseball field, sports cage, The Exeter Inn, and other facilities. He willed $1 million to Phillips Exeter.
Thompson established the Boyce Thompson Arboretum just west of Superior, Arizona in 1924. It has grown into the largest botanical garden in the state of Arizona, and is one of the oldest botanical institutions west of the Mississippi River. Thompson owned rich copper mines in both Superior and Inspiration, Arizona.
Thompson also bequeathed a significant gem and mineral collection to New York's American Museum of Natural History.
His wife, Gertrude Hickman, and daughter, Margaret Thompson, inherited the balance of his wealth. In 1941, The Alder, Boyce-Thompson's 265 ft. motor-yacht, was given to the U.S. Navy to aid the war effort.
From Wikipedia’s article on William Boyce Thompson (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Links
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
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- 2WikipediaWilliam Boyce Thompson on Wikipedia
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