Ralph Reed (American Express)
Ralph Thomas Reed<ref name="Express">Peter Z. Grossman, American Express: The People Who Built the Great Financial Empire, 1987</ref> (July 6, 1890, Philadelphia – January 21, 1968, New York City) was the president of the American Express Company from 1944 to 1960. He joined the company in 1919 as assistant to the controller.<ref name="NYT Obit">Template:Cite news</ref> He was the person who made the decision to create the American Express charge card, first issued in 1958.
Biography
He was born on July 6, 1890 in Philadelphia, to William Arter and Jennie Smith Reed.<ref name="NYT Obit"/> He was raised in Philadelphia, the second son of a Welsh-born lumber company accountant. He won a scholarship to Princeton, but dropped out when his father became unemployed. Reed got an accounting job, and at night, began attending Wharton School.<ref name="1:04"/> In 1915, he graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.<ref name="NYT Obit"/>
He joined American Express as assistant to the controller in 1919.<ref name="NYT Obit"/> From 1944 to 1960 he was president of American Express.<ref name="NYT Obit"/> TIME magazine in 1956 described Reed, as Amex president, as the "businessman who first applied to foreign travel all the ingenuity and resources of U.S. industry," stating he had done "more than anyone else in the world to lure the American abroad and make his trip a success." In his twelve years as president, he had increased the company's offices from 50 to 344, increased employees from 1,500 to 8,600, and saw a 318% increase in total assets, at $621 million. He also saw the implementation of Amex programs intended to make travel easier and cheaper for Americans, including trip planning services, and detective services to find traveling family members and missing items.<ref name="1:04">Template:Citation</ref> TIME noted his personal proclivity for lavish international travel and tipping, and that he once "rented the entire first floor of London’s Hotel Savoy to entertain 500 cocktail guests."<ref name="1:04"/> Reed approved the first Amex card, which appeared in 1958.<ref name="1:2">Template:Citation</ref> He was succeeded as president of Amexco in 1960 by Howard L. Clark.<ref name="1:03">Template:Citation</ref> He was chairman of the executive committee of Amex from 1960 to 1965, when he retired.<ref name="NYT Obit"/>
He was on the advisory committee of the Foreign Service Institute of the United States State Department and was also an adviser to the Voice of America.<ref name="NYT Obit"/> President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him the US representative at the inauguration of the President of Nicaragua in 1957.<ref name="NYT Obit"/>
He was married to Edna May Young, and their daughter was named Phyllis Ann Reed.<ref name="NYT Obit"/> A resident of New York City and Palm Beach, Ralph T. Reed died at Roosevelt Hospital in New York in July 1890 after falling ill, at the age of 77.<ref name="NYT Obit"/>
Boards and committees
He was a director of the Western Union Telegraph Company, the American International Life Assurance Company of New York, the First National Bank of West Palm Beach, Florida, and the Lafayette Fellowship Foundation of Philadelphia.<ref name="NYT Obit"/>
He was on the board of the directors of the American Cancer Society, a trustee of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, a trustee of Roosevelt Hospital, and a trustee of the United States Trust Company of New York.<ref name="NYT Obit"/>
See also
References
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