J. Luther Cleveland

J. Luther Cleveland
Born1891
Cleburne, Texas, U.S.
Died (aged 93)
Lake Wales, Florida, U.S.
EducationEastman School of Business
OccupationBanker
Years activec. 1912–1961
Employer(s)Guaranty Trust Company of New York; Morgan Guaranty Trust Company
SpouseElizabeth Ames Cleveland
Children3

J. Luther Cleveland (1891 – July 1, 1984) was an American banker who served as president, chairman and chief executive officer of the Guaranty Trust Company of New York, one of the largest commercial banks in the United States. He began his career in Oklahoma banking, joined Guaranty Trust in 1923, became its president in 1944 and chairman and chief executive officer in 1947, and remained its leader until Guaranty's 1959 merger with J.P. Morgan & Co. He subsequently became chairman of the executive committee of the resulting Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, retiring from that office in 1960 and remaining a director until 1961.

During Cleveland's leadership, Guaranty Trust played a significant role in financing American public utilities and petroleum companies. Cleveland became known for his advice concerning petroleum and utility investments and for helping develop lending techniques in which oil-producing properties were used as security. He also participated in litigation surrounding the sale of Universal Oil Products and the establishment of the Petroleum Research Fund.

Early life

Cleveland was born in Cleburne, Texas, in 1891 and attended the Eastman School of Business in Poughkeepsie, New York.[1] He received his early banking training in Texas and Oklahoma.[2][3]

Military service

During World War I, Cleveland served in the United States Army. He enlisted as a private and was eventually commissioned as an officer. He served with the Quartermaster Corps in France and was discharged as a first lieutenant.[1]

Career

Cleveland entered banking at the age of 21 as an assistant cashier at the American National Bank of Muskogee, Oklahoma. He subsequently joined the American National Bank of Oklahoma City, where he became a vice president and director and was particularly associated with the bank's relationships with smaller country banks.[1][4]

After his military service and return to banking, Guaranty Trust hired Cleveland as an assistant secretary in 1923 to help handle the bank's business in the southwestern United States.[4] His appointment reflected the importance of correspondent relationships between large New York banks and regional institutions in the Southwest. He became a second vice president in 1925 and a vice president in January 1928.[2] A 1940 bankers' directory listed him among Guaranty's general-banking vice presidents.[5] Cleveland soon developed a reputation for the soundness of his advice concerning investments in petroleum companies and public utilities.[1] He was increasingly entrusted with responsibilities extending beyond the bank's southwestern business.

In February 1940, Cleveland was transferred from the southwestern district to Guaranty's general management.[2] The bank elected him to its board of directors on November 6, 1940.[3][6][7] When Eugene Stetson became president in January 1941, Cleveland assumed duties that Stetson had previously performed.[8][9]

President and chairman

Cleveland became president of Guaranty Trust in 1944.[10][1] Photographs taken by Carl Mydans in July 1945 show Cleveland with Stetson in a Guaranty boardroom.[11]

On Stetson's retirement in January 1947, Cleveland was elected chairman of the board and chief executive officer, while William L. Kleitz succeeded him as president.[12][13][1] Contemporary bank statements consistently identified Cleveland as chairman during the following decade.[14][15][16]

During Cleveland's chairmanship, Guaranty remained a major wholesale and international bank with offices in New York and Europe and extensive relationships with corporations and other banks.[17][18][19]

Under Cleveland's leadership, Guaranty Trust played a major role among New York banks in financing the nation's public-utility and petroleum industries. The bank also helped develop lending techniques under which loans could be secured by the value and expected production of oil-producing properties.[1] Cleveland's experience with petroleum finance also informed his participation in proceedings concerning Universal Oil Products and the Petroleum Research Fund.

Economic views

Cleveland regularly contributed year-opening assessments to the Commercial and Financial Chronicle. In the early 1950s, he argued that the economy's transition away from wartime priorities was directing a larger share of national output toward individual consumer needs. He linked durable growth to private investment, stable money, restrained public spending, and the avoidance of excessive dependence on government support.[20][21][22][23][24]

He also favored monetary and fiscal discipline as safeguards against inflation and regarded movement toward currency convertibility and freer international trade as important to international recovery.[25][26][27][28][29]

Petroleum Research Fund litigation

Guaranty Trust served as trustee under arrangements connected with Universal Oil Products (UOP). In 1957, Cleveland testified in proceedings over the proposed sale of UOP stock. The litigation examined whether the sale was consistent with the trustee's obligations and with the charitable purpose that became the American Chemical Society's Petroleum Research Fund.[30][31][32]

The court ultimately approved the transaction. The decision recited a sale of 2.9 million shares at $25 per share and described the amounts transferred to the trustee after expenses and debt payments.[33]

Creation of Morgan Guaranty

Guaranty Trust and J.P. Morgan & Co. announced on December 17, 1958, that they intended to merge. The planned institution would be called the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York. Henry C. Alexander was designated chairman, Dale E. Sharp president, and Cleveland chairman of the executive committee.[34][35][36]

The proposal received broad national coverage, in part because it combined two institutions identified with wholesale corporate banking.[37][38][39][40][41]

The New Yorker reported on J.P. Morgan's final annual meeting as an independent institution and described Cleveland's proposed position in the combined bank.[42] At Guaranty's January 1959 meeting, Cleveland presided while stockholders considered the merger and related financial questions.[43][44]

The merger was completed in April 1959. The combined bank opened with assets exceeding $4 billion and capital funds approaching $500 million; contemporary trade press described it as New York City's third-largest bank and the fourth-largest in the United States.[45][46][47] Cleveland served as chairman of the executive committee and remained a director.[45][48][49]

Cleveland retired as chairman of Morgan Guaranty's executive committee on July 1, 1960, during the fiftieth year of his banking career. He nevertheless remained a member of Morgan Guaranty's board of directors until 1961.[10][1][50][51][52]

Civic and philanthropic activities

Cleveland and his family lived in Pelham Manor, New York. In 1939, New York City officials corresponded with him about a civic undertaking associated with Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.[53]

He was associated with educational and international-service fundraising. Surviving organizational correspondence identifies him as a national fund treasurer,[54][55] and he appeared on a committee supporting grants for French students.[56] Cleveland served for years as a trustee of Roosevelt Hospital.[57]

He and his wife were also recorded among supporters of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[58][59][60][61][62] In 1966, the Clevelands donated an Abbott Handerson Thayer portrait of Emma Beach to the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum.[63] Westchester newspapers repeatedly recorded Cleveland and his wife as organizers or hosts for charity and debutante events, including the Westchester Cotillion.[64][65][66]

Personal life

Cleveland was married to Elizabeth Ames Cleveland. The family lived for many years in Pelham, where Cleveland and his wife participated in civic, charitable, educational, and cultural organizations. They had three children: John L. Cleveland, Charles A. Cleveland, and Elizabeth Cleveland Lackey.[1][67] Cleveland moved to Lake Wales, Florida, around 1972 and lived there for the remainder of his life.

Death

He died at his Lake Wales home on July 1, 1984, at the age of 93.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Waggoner, Walter H. (July 4, 1984). "J. Luther Cleveland, a Former Chairman of Guaranty Trust". The New York Times. p. D15.
  2. 1 2 3 "J. Luther Cleveland Assigned to General Management of Guaranty Trust". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. February 17, 1940 – via FRASER.
  3. 1 2 "J. Luther Cleveland Elected a Director of Guaranty Trust". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. November 9, 1940 – via FRASER.
  4. 1 2 "J. Luther Cleveland Jr. Appointed Assistant Secretary of Guaranty Trust". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. September 22, 1923 – via FRASER.
  5. ↑ Rand McNally Bankers Directory: Final 1940 Edition. Rand McNally. 1940 – via FRASER.
  6. ↑ "J. Luther Cleveland Elected Guaranty Trust Director" (PDF). Mid-Continent Banker. December 1940 – via FRASER.
  7. ↑ "Banking News and Personnel Changes" (PDF). Weekly Bank News. November 13, 1940 – via FRASER.
  8. ↑ "Changes in Guaranty Trust Management". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. January 18, 1941 – via FRASER.
  9. ↑ "Banking News and Personnel Changes" (PDF). Weekly Bank News. January 22, 1941 – via FRASER.
  10. 1 2 "J. Luther Cleveland to Retire as Morgan Guaranty Executive Committee Chairman". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. June 23, 1960 – via FRASER.
  11. ↑ Carl Mydans (July 1945). "Eugene W. Stetson and J. Luther Cleveland in a Guaranty Trust boardroom". LIFE Photo Collection.
  12. ↑ "Cleveland Elected Chairman of Guaranty Trust" (PDF). Weekly Bank News. January 22, 1947 – via FRASER.
  13. ↑ Harwell, John H. (2009). The Relationship Banker: Eugene W. Stetson, Wall Street, and American Business, 1916–1959 (PDF). Mercer University Press.
  14. ↑ "Guaranty Trust Company of New York" (PDF). Banking. 42 (5). American Bankers Association. November 1949.
  15. ↑ "Guaranty Trust Company of New York" (PDF). Banking. 46 (2). American Bankers Association. August 1953.
  16. ↑ "Guaranty Trust Company of New York" (PDF). Commercial West. 106 (2). July 11, 1953 – via FRASER.
  17. ↑ "Guaranty Trust Company of New York" (PDF). The Northwestern Banker. April 1946 – via FRASER.
  18. ↑ "Guaranty Trust Officers and Directors" (PDF). Monthly Bank News. July 1955 – via FRASER.
  19. ↑ "Guaranty Trust Quarter Century Club and Officers". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. November 17, 1955 – via FRASER.
  20. ↑ "Business and Financial Leaders Discuss the Outlook". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. January 22, 1953 – via FRASER.
  21. ↑ "Business and Financial Outlook". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. January 14, 1954 – via FRASER.
  22. ↑ "Views of J. Luther Cleveland". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. January 20, 1955 – via FRASER.
  23. ↑ "Annual Business and Financial Review". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. January 27, 1955 – via FRASER.
  24. ↑ "Guaranty Trust Company of New York" (PDF). Commercial West. January 15, 1955 – via FRASER.
  25. ↑ "J. Luther Cleveland on Currency and Restraint". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. March 1, 1956 – via FRASER.
  26. ↑ "Business and Financial Outlook". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. January 24, 1957 – via FRASER.
  27. ↑ "Annual Business and Financial Review". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. January 16, 1958 – via FRASER.
  28. ↑ "Business Leaders Discuss the Outlook". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. January 23, 1958 – via FRASER.
  29. ↑ "Banker Discusses Capital-Gains Tax". Danville Bee. May 22, 1950. p. 10.
  30. ↑ "UOP Hearing in Third Week". Chemical & Engineering News. 1957. doi:10.1021/cen-v035n047.p088a.
  31. ↑ "Banking and Corporate News". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. March 27, 1958 – via FRASER.
  32. ↑ "Banking and Corporate News". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. April 10, 1958 – via FRASER.
  33. ↑ "Matter of Petroleum Research Fund". CaseMine. New York Supreme Court.
  34. ↑ "Plans to Form Morgan Guaranty Trust Company" (PDF). Weekly Bank News. December 24, 1958 – via FRASER.
  35. ↑ "J.P. Morgan and Guaranty Trust Announce Merger". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. December 18, 1958 – via FRASER.
  36. ↑ "Guaranty Trust and J.P. Morgan Plan Merger" (PDF). Banking. 51 (7). American Bankers Association. January 1959.
  37. ↑ "Morgan, Guaranty Trust Plan Merger". Plattsburgh Press-Republican. December 18, 1958. p. 1.
  38. ↑ "Banks Announce Merger". The Glens Falls Times. December 18, 1958. p. 2.
  39. ↑ "Morgan and Guaranty Trust to Combine". Richmond News Leader. December 18, 1958. p. 64.
  40. ↑ "Two Big New York Banks Plan Merger". Corpus Christi Times. December 18, 1958. p. 44.
  41. ↑ "J.P. Morgan, Guaranty Trust Plan Merger". Cumberland News. December 18, 1958. p. 3.
  42. ↑ "Milestone". The New Yorker. January 31, 1959.
  43. ↑ "Guaranty Trust Meeting Reviews Morgan Merger". Bridgeport Post. January 21, 1959. p. 32.
  44. ↑ "Bank Meetings and Merger Developments". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. January 15, 1959 – via FRASER.
  45. 1 2 "Morgan Guaranty Trust Company Comes into Being" (PDF). Weekly Bank News. April 29, 1959 – via FRASER.
  46. ↑ "Morgan Guaranty Trust Company" (PDF). The Northwestern Banker. June 1959 – via FRASER.
  47. ↑ "Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York" (PDF). Banking. 51 (12). American Bankers Association. June 1959.
  48. ↑ "Guaranty Trust Company of New York" (PDF). Banking. 51 (8). American Bankers Association. February 1959.
  49. ↑ "Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York" (PDF). Banking. 52 (8). American Bankers Association. February 1960.
  50. ↑ "J. Luther Cleveland Retires" (PDF). Monthly Bank News. July 1960 – via FRASER.
  51. ↑ "Corporate Board Nominees Include J. Luther Cleveland". Billings Gazette. May 17, 1960. p. 4.
  52. ↑ "J. Luther Cleveland and Morgan Guaranty" (PDF). Mid-Continent Banker. November 1960 – via FRASER.
  53. ↑ "Letter to J. Luther Cleveland". Texas Christian University Digital Repository. October 12, 1939.
  54. ↑ "Letter from Kenneth Scott Latourette to Helen Keller". Helen Keller Archive. American Foundation for the Blind.
  55. ↑ "Stanley I. Stuber Correspondence" (PDF). Digital Maine.
  56. ↑ "Six French Students to Get New Grants" (PDF). CIA Reading Room. Central Intelligence Agency.
  57. ↑ Annual Reports of Roosevelt Hospital (Report). Roosevelt Hospital – via Internet Archive.
  58. ↑ "Back Matter". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin – via JSTOR.
  59. ↑ "Front Matter" (PDF). The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin – via JSTOR.
  60. ↑ "The Centennial and Public Affairs". Metropolitan Museum Journal. 3. 1970 – via JSTOR.
  61. ↑ "Membership". Metropolitan Museum of Art Annual Report. 1971 – via JSTOR.
  62. ↑ "Membership" (PDF). Metropolitan Museum of Art Annual Report – via JSTOR.
  63. ↑ "The Girl in the Portrait: Emma Beach and Mark Twain". Mansion Musings. Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum. September 19, 2016.
  64. ↑ "Westchester Cotillion Plans". Bronxville Review Press. August 30, 1951. p. 10.
  65. ↑ "Westchester Cotillion". Bronxville Reporter. September 13, 1951. p. 5.
  66. ↑ "Pelham Benefit Committee". Pelham Sun. October 4, 1973. p. 4.
  67. ↑ "J. Luther Cleveland Jr. at Tiara Ball". Scarsdale Inquirer. January 19, 1951. p. 15.
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