{{Short description|American businessman, diplomat and inventor}} '''Morehead Patterson''' (October 9, 1897 – August 5, 1962) was an American businessman, a diplomat, an inventor, and president, CEO and chairman of American Machine and Foundry, the company founded by his father Rufus Patterson.
==Early life== Patterson was born in Durham, North Carolina on October 9, 1897 but his family moved to New York City in 1899.<ref name="Bedingfield1960"/> He was the only son of Rufus L. Patterson Jr. and Margaret Warren "Madge" ({{nee}} Morehead) Patterson (1874–1968).<ref name="MPObit1962"/> His only sibling was Lucy Lathrop Patterson,<ref name="LdRObit1977">{{cite news |title=LUCY DE RHAM |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/25/archives/john-a-coleman-philanthropist-big-board-chairman-dies-at-75.html |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=25 February 1977}}</ref> who married Casimir de Rham (a descendant of Henry Casimir de Rham).<ref name="1919Notes">{{cite news |title=Wedding Notes |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1919/09/14/archives/marriage-announcement-2-no-title.html |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=14 September 1919}}</ref>
His paternal grandparents were Rufus Lenoir Patterson and, his second wife, Mary Elizabeth ({{nee}} Fries) Patterson.<ref name=dict>{{cite book|editor-last=Powell|editor-first=William S.|title=Dictionary of North Carolina Biography|year=1994|volume=V|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|place=Chapel Hill, NC|pages=35–36|isbn=0-8078-2100-4}}</ref> His grandfather served as Mayor of Salem, North Carolina.<ref name="ncpedia">{{cite web |title=Patterson, Rufus Lenoir |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/patterson-rufus-lenoir |website=www.ncpedia.org |publisher=NCpedia |access-date=1 June 2023}}</ref> His maternal grandparents were Lucy Cornelia Lathrop and Robert Lindsay Morehead (the youngest son of North Carolina Governor John Motley Morehead of Blandwood).<ref name="MrsPatterson1968">{{cite news |title=MRS. RUFUS PATTERSON |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/08/05/archives/mrs-rufus-patterson.html |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=5 August 1968}}</ref>
After attending the Groton School, he matriculated at Yale University, Oxford University and Harvard University, earning a law degree from Harvard University in 1924.<ref name="MPObit1962"/>
==Career== In 1941, his father retired as president of AMF and became chairman of the board of directors. Morehead replaced him as president and following the elder Patterson's death in 1943, Morehead replaced him as chairman of the board and was succeeded as president by Herbert H. Leonard (former president of the Consolidated Packaging Machinery Corporation of Buffalo, New York).<ref name="1943chairman">{{cite news |title=Elected to Presidency Of Machinery Company |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/11/16/archives/elected-to-presidency-of-machinery-company.html |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=16 November 1943}}</ref> Patterson led expansion of AMF from $5 million a year company to $500 million a year conglomerate.<ref name="Bedingfield1960">{{cite news |last1=Bedingfield |first1=Robert E. |title=Personality: Silver Spoon Was Not Enough; Morehead Patterson Greatly Widened A.M.F.'s Scope 280 Million Business Was Rated at Only 5 Million in 1941 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/01/17/archives/personality-silver-spoon-was-not-enough-morehead-patterson-greatly.html |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=17 January 1960}}</ref> In 1959, Patterson was elected chairman of the Brookings Institution.<ref name="MPObit1962"/>
With the rank of Ambassador, he represented the United States at the United Nations Committee on Disarmament in 1954 and at the International Atomic Energy Agency Negotiations in London in 1954 and 1955.<ref name="state">{{cite web |title=Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Western Europe and Canada, Volume XXVII |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v27/d165 |website=history.state.gov |publisher=Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute United States Department of State |access-date=1 June 2023}}</ref> He also served as chairman of the Nuclear Standards Board of the American Standards Association.<ref name="MPObit1962"/>
==Personal life== In 1921, Patterson was married to Elsie Parsons, a daughter of Herbert Parsons and Elsie Clews Parsons.<ref name="1921Wedding">{{cite news |last1=Times |first1=Special to The New York |title=MISS ELSIE PARSONS MARRIED IN LENOX; Society Throng at Her Wedding to Morehead Patterson of New York in Trinity Church. LOUISE DELANO A BRIDE Washington Girl Weds Col. Sherwood A. Cheney, U.S.A., in Stockbridge--200 at Reception. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1921/09/11/archives/miss-elsie-parsons-married-in-lenox-society-throng-at-her-wedding.html |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=11 September 1921}}</ref> Before their divorce in 1929, they were the parents of:
* Rufus Lenoir Patterson III (1922–1944),<ref name="1944Obit">{{cite news |title=Lieut. R.L. Patterson 3d Killed |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1944/12/07/archives/lieut-rl-patterson-3d-killed.html |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=7 December 1944}}</ref> a Lieutenant with the USAAF who was killed in action during World War II; he married Mae Gouverneur Cadwalader, daughter of Gouverneur Cadwalader in 1942.<ref name="1942Wedding">{{cite news |last1=TIMES |first1=Special to THE NEW YORK |title=MAE CADWALADER BECOMES A BRIDE; Fort Washington, Pa., Girl Is Married in Whitemarsh to Rufus L. Patterson 3d HAS ELEVEN ATTENDANTS: Miss Minnie Cadwalader Maid of HonorL J. J. Higginson Serves as Best Man |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1942/07/12/archives/mae-cadwalader-becomes-a-bride-fort-washington-pa-girl-is-married.html |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=12 July 1942}}</ref> * Herbert Parsons Patterson (1925–1985),<ref name="HPPObit1985">{{cite news |last1=Blair |first1=William G. |title=H.P. PATTERSON, BANKER, IS DEAD |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/31/nyregion/hp-patterson-banker-is-dead.html |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=31 January 1985}}</ref> who became president of the Chase Manhattan Bank in 1968.<ref name="Heinemann1968">{{cite news |last1=Heinemann |first1=H. Erich |title=David Rockefeller Moves Up at Chase; Patterson, 43, Gets Post as President David Rockefeller and Patterson Elected to New Posts at Chase |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/10/31/archives/david-rockefeller-moves-up-at-chase-patterson-43-gets-post-as.html |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=31 October 1968}}</ref><ref name="1972Banker">{{cite news |title=Herbert Parsons Patterson |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/10/13/archives/herbert-parsons-patterson.html |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=13 October 1972}}</ref>
In 1945, he married Helen Isabelle ({{nee}} Mitchell) Clark (1909–1955), a daughter of journalist Roscoe Conklin Mitchell and Clara Belle ({{nee}} Howland) Mitchell,<ref name="MrsPatterson1955">{{cite news |title=MRS. PATTERSON DEAD; Wife of Eisenhower Adviser on Atomic Energy Was 46 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/09/19/archives/i-mrs-patterson-dead-i-iwife-of-eisenhower-adviseri-l-on-atomic.html |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=19 September 1955}}</ref> in 1945.<ref name="1945Wedding">{{cite news |title=MRS. H.M. CLARK WED; Becomes Bride in Washington of Morehead Patterson |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/06/30/archives/mrs-hm-clark-wed-becomes-bride-in-washington-of-morehead-patterson.html |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=30 June 1945}}</ref>
After her death in 1955, he married Margaret Morgan ({{nee}} Tilt) Jacob (1903–1996), the former wife of Dr. Arthur D. Bissell and Walter Phelps Jacob who was a daughter of automaker and Diamond T founder Charles Arthur Tilt and Agnes Josephine ({{nee}} Morgan) Tilt,<ref name="1945JacobWedding">{{cite news |title=MRS. BISSELL IS MARRIED; Former Margaret Tilt Wed to Walter Phelps Jacob |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/01/10/archives/mrs-bissell-is-married-former-margaret-tilt-wed-to-walter-phelps.html |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=10 January 1945}}</ref> in 1956.
Patterson died on August 5, 1962.<ref name="MPObit1962">{{cite news |title=Morehead Patterson, 64, Dies; Chairman of American Machine; Inventor and Diplomat Guided Expansion of A.M.F. Into a 500-Million Giant |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/08/06/archives/morehead-patterson-64-dies-chairman-of-american-machine-inventor.html |access-date=1 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=6 August 1962}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[https://archives.nypl.org/mss/2352 Morehead Patterson scrapbook: 1908-1920] at The New York Public Library
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Morehead}} Category:1897 births Category:1962 deaths Category:American chief executives Category:Businesspeople from Durham, North Carolina Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Yale University alumni Category:20th-century American inventors Category:20th-century American businesspeople