Albert Russel Erskine (January 24, 1871 – July 1, 1933) was an American businessman. Born in
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...
, he worked in a number of manufacturing industries before joining the
Studebaker
Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers M ...
motor car manufacturing firm in 1911. He served as Studebaker's
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
from 1915 until the firm encountered severe financial problems in 1933, when he committed
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
.
Career with Studebaker
During his long term as Studebaker's president, he encouraged the firm towards the production of small, sporty but economical cars on the European model, in particular the
Erskine and
Rockne
The Rockne was an American automobile brand produced by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, from 1932 to 1933. The brand was named for University of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne and were produced in Detroit, Michigan.
U ...
series. He also published a history of the firm, in 1918.
[Erskine, A. R]
''History of the Studebaker Corporation''
South Bend 1918
Downfall and death
His downfall lay in his failure to cut production and costs quickly in response to the slump of 1929 and 1930, which led to an insurmountable cashflow crisis. In 1930, he had declared a dividend of $7,800,000 which was five times the actual net profits of that year. In 1931, he paid a dividend of $3,500,000—also out of capital—a ruinous procedure which he unsuccessfully sought to correct through a merger with
White Motor Company.
[Hendry, Maurice D ''Studebaker: One can do a lot of remembering at South Bend'', in Automobile Quarterly, Vol X, No 3, 1972] Working capital had fallen from $26 million in 1926 to $3.5 million in 1932 and the banks were owed $6 million, for which they demanded payment. Studebaker defaulted and went into receivership.
Suffering from heart trouble and diabetes, ousted from his position at Studebaker, himself $350,000 in debt and his Studebaker stock now all but worthless, Erskine committed suicide on June 30, 1933, by shooting himself in the heart in his home on the south side of
South Bend. He is interred at the
Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville. Hendry added: "According to one account, the insurance companies duly and promptly paid all his debts and provided for his dependants".
[
]
University trustee
In addition to his business work, Erskine served on the board of trustees of the University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
, where his son Albert, Jr. studied. The university awarded him an honorary LL.D. in 1924. He took a strong interest in college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
(a later Studebaker brand, the Rockne
The Rockne was an American automobile brand produced by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, from 1932 to 1933. The brand was named for University of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne and were produced in Detroit, Michigan.
U ...
, was named after Notre Dame's football coach of the time), and initiated the Albert Russel Erskine Trophy
The Albert Russel Erskine Trophy was an annual award presented in the United States from 1929 to 1931 to the college football team recognized as national champions by a group of American sportswriters.
Trophy
The Erskine trophy is made of plate ...
for the national football championship. The winner was chosen by a panel whose methods are, in essence, still used to select the champion team. He was instrumental in a grant of $10,000 that the Studebaker Corporation made to Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1926, to set up the Albert Russel Erskine Bureau for Street Traffic Research, which remained active through much of the 1930s.
References
External links
Brief biography of Erskine
with a photograph of him
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erskine, Albert Russel
1871 births
1933 deaths
Studebaker people
Suicides by firearm in Indiana
University of Notre Dame people
People from Huntsville, Alabama
20th-century American businesspeople
Businesspeople from Alabama
1933 suicides