Charles Carpenter Tillinghast Jr. (January 30, 1911 – July 25, 1998) was a chairman of Trans World Airlines and chancellor of Brown University.

Biography

Charles C. Tillinghast Jr. was born in

Saxtons River, Vermont Saxtons River is an incorporated village in the town of Rockingham in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 479 at the 2020 census. For over a hundred years, Saxtons River has been the home of Vermont Academy, an indepen ...

on January 30, 1911. He was the son of Charles Carpenter Tillinghast, Sr. (1884-1961). He attended

Horace Mann School , motto_translation = Great is the truth and it prevails , address = 231 West 246th Street , city = The Bronx , state = New York , zipcode = 10471 , countr ...

and Brown University, where he played football, graduating in 1932. He graduated from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

in 1935 and became a lawyer in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. He was on the staff of district attorney

Thomas E. Dewey Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer, prosecutor, and politician who served as the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican candidate for president in 1944 and 1948: although ...

in New York City and a partner with the law firm Hughes, Schurman and Dwight. In 1957 he joined Bendix Corporation, becoming director of its foreign operations. He was a vice president at Bendix in 1961 when he was hired as president and CEO of TWA in a deal sponsored by creditors seeking to oust

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

from control of the airline. Because control of the airline was in litigation, Tillinghast received an employment contract, dubbed a “ golden parachute”, the first known use of that term. He served as chairman until 1976. Tillinghast oversaw a golden era for TWA as it moved to a hub system and achieved dominance in the trans-Atlantic market, and expanded TWA's reach into the

hospitality industry The hospitality industry is a broad category of fields within the service industry that includes lodging, food and drink service, event planning, theme parks, travel and tourism. It includes hotels, tourism agencies, restaurants and bars. Sect ...

by way of its purchase of the

Hilton Hotels Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton. The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As ...

chain through a newly created division called the

Trans World Corporation Trans World Corporation was the original name of the holding company set up to own Trans World Airlines. History In 1967, when the airline sought to diversify into other areas of business, a key investment was ''Hilton International Hotels'', the ...

. He was criticized for ignoring the Pacific and domestic U.S. routes. During his

tenure Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...

the airline industry went through major changes, including spikes in fuel prices and the advent of terrorism. Tillinghast was chancellor of Brown from 1967 to 1978. In 1998 the university established the Tillinghast Professorship in International Studies in his honor. Tillinghast died July 25, 1998, in

Little Compton, Rhode Island Little Compton is a coastal town in Newport County, Rhode Island, bounded on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by the Sakonnet River, on the north by the town of Tiverton, and on the east by the town of Westport, Massachusetts. The pop ...

References

External links

Caught at the Crest
''Time'' magazine cover story, July 22, 1966 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tillinghast, Charles 1911 births 1998 deaths Kansas City metropolitan area Trans World Airlines people Brown University alumni Columbia Law School alumni Horace Mann School alumni Chancellors of Brown University People from Rockingham, Vermont Bendix Corporation people 20th-century American academics