Jonathan Bell Lovelace (1895–1979) was the founder of Capital Group Companies.

Early life

Jonathan Bell Lovelace was born in 1895. He grew up in

Brewton, Alabama Brewton is a city in and the county seat of Escambia County, Alabama, Escambia County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 5,276. Brewton is located in south central Alabama, just north of ...

and attended

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

Career

Lovelace spent most of the 1920s at a Detroit banking/brokerage firm, developing his investment research techniques and earning impressive results. In 1924, he became a partner in E.E. MacCrone. By 1929, before the stock market crash, he could see no logical relationship between stock market prices and their underlying values, so he sold his interest in the firm, took his investments out of the market and moved to California. Lovelace founded Capital Research and Management Company in 1931 which was at first a small firm named Lovelace, Dennis and Renfrew.

Personal life

His son, Jon B. Lovelace Jr., a

Hotchkiss School The Hotchkiss School is a coeducational University-preparatory school#North America, preparatory school in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States. Hotchkiss is a member of the Eight Schools Association and Ten Schools Admissions Organization. It i ...

1944 graduate, served as an executive at Capital Group Companies. In 2007, his son and family were ranked #840 on the

Forbes Billionaires List ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also repo ...

worth $1.1 billion. As of 2019, grandson Rob Lovelace serves as an investment manager for a Capital Group fund.

Death

He died in 1979.

References

1895 births 1979 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople American financial company founders American financiers American investors Auburn University alumni Businesspeople from Alabama Hotchkiss School alumni People from Brewton, Alabama Auburn Tigers football coaches {{US-business-bio-1890s-stub