Huntington Hartford

Infobox Person


image_size = 150px
name = George Huntington Hartford II
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1911|4|18
birth_place = New York, New York, United States
death_date = death date and age|2008|5|19|1911|4|18
death_place = Lyford Cay, The Bahamas
education =
occupation = Heir to The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company
spouse =
parents = Edward V. Hartford, Henrietta Guerard Hartford
children = Juliet Hartford, John Hartford

George Huntington Hartford II (April 18, 1911 – May 19, 2008) was an heir to the The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company fortune. Hartford was born in New York City and was the son of Edward V. Hartford, heir to the A&P fortune and auto parts inventor. His father died in 1922 and he was cared for by his mother Henrietta Guerard Hartford.

Biography

His grandfather George Huntington Hartford and his uncles John Augustine Hartford (1872–1951) and George Ludlum Hartford (1864–1957) privately owned the A&P Supermarket, which at one point had 16,000 stores in the US and was the largest retail empire in the world. When his uncles died they had no heirs so he inherited their fortune. The money also went to the John A. Hartford Foundation, which had $800 million as of 2007. In the 1950s A&P was the world's largest grocer and, next to General Motors, sold more goods than any other company in the world.

Huntington was the original owner and developer of Paradise Island in the Bahamas, which was originally called Hog Island. He got the gambling license for Paradise Island. He built the Ocean Club on the island from the unassembled stones of a monastery that William Randolph Hearst had in a warehouse in Florida.

He published a magazine called "Show" from 1961 to 1972 and is well known for building the unique Gallery of Modern Art at 2 Columbus Circle to showcase his art collection, which included many fine examples of representative art, including Impressionists, pre-Raphaelites, and Surrealists (notably Salvador Dali).

He thought of an idea to get oil from rock (mainly in Western Colorado) so he founded Oil Shale corporation with Herbert Linden and set up the Denver Research Institute at University of Denver to research it as an alternate way to get oil. He made deals with Standard Oil and Atlantic Richfield for Oil Shale. He was largest stockholder of Oil Shale corporation. Oil Shale became Tosco which is owned by ConocoPhillips and is worth billions today.

In the 1960s, the International Herald Tribune wrote that he was one of the world's richest men. In 1975 Peter Owen published "You Are What You Write" by George Huntington Hartford II. It was of specific interest in that it covered cancer detection through handwriting. The author is described as the President and Founder of The Handwriting Institute Inc. in New York; former research associate in Neurology at Columbia University and honorary member of AAHA.The Sunday Express Magazine Expresso (11/8/1996 pp.28-32) throws some light on the author. At 21, Hunt inherited a fortune - "the greatest fortune on Earth"; the money was made by his grandfather and father from a chain of 16,000 supermarkets, at one time the world's largest retail empire. At 85 years old, he had spent around $400 million.

His final home was in Lyford Cay, The Bahamas, where he lived with his daughter Juliet Hartford. He died on May 19, 2008 at age 97.

References

* [http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-hartford20-2008may20,0,3985195.story "Huntington Hartford II, A. & P. Heir spent his Fortune on the Arts", The Los Angeles Times, May 19, 2008.]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1808636,00.html "Milestones", Time Magazine, May 22, 2008.]
* [http://www.nysun.com/obituaries/huntington-hartford-97-eccentric-art-patron/76712/ Stephen Miller, "Huntington Hartford Eccentric Art Patron Dies at 97", The New York Sun, May 20, 2008.]
* [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-obit-hartfordmay20,0,933821.story Tribune Staff Report, "A. & P. Heir who Lost Millions", Chicago Tribune, May 20, 2008.]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051902520.html Adam Bernstein, "Huntington Hartford Lost Millions on Investments", Washington Post, May 20, 2008.]

External links

* [http://www.jhartfound.org/ The John A. Hartford Foundation]
* [http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19501113,00.html Time Magazine Cover showing Hartford's uncles]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?frow=0&n=10&srcht=s&query=%22huntington+Hartford%22&srchst=p&hdlquery=&bylquery=&daterange=full&mon1=01&day1=01&year1=1981&mon2=04&day2=02&year2=2008&submit.x=20&submit.y=8 New York Times archives on Huntington Hartford]
* [http://www.time.com/time/searchresults?D=huntington+hartford&sid=10E0C970B2A8&Ntt=huntington+hartford&Nr=OR%28p_record_type%3aOther%2cp_record_type%3ablog%2cp_record_type%3aArticle%29&Ntk=WithBodyDate&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&N=0&Ns=p_date_sort%7c0&Nty=1 Time magazine archives on Huntington Hartford]
* [http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0702/gallery.rich_eccentrics.fortune/8.html Article on wealthy eccentrics CNN Money]
* [http://www.huntingtonhartford.com/ Huntington Hartford's official web site]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0366696/ IMDB]
* [http://www.juliethartford.com/ Juliet Hartford]
* [http://www.dianehartford.com/ Diane Hartford]