Murray Lincoln was an American business executive, leader in the cooperative movement and former CEO of

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and affiliated companies, commonly shortened to Nationwide, is a group of large U.S. insurance and financial services companies based in Columbus, Ohio. The company also operates regional headquarters in Scott ...

where he served in the capacity from 1939-1964.

Early life and education

Lincoln was born Murray Danforth Lincoln on April 18, 1892 and grew up in

Raynham, Massachusetts Raynham () is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located approximately south of Boston and northeast of Providence, Rhode Island. The population was 15,082 at the 2020 census. It has one village, Raynham Center. History ...

. Born and raised on a small farm, Lincoln obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

) in 1914. He was a member of

Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly known as Lambda Chi, is a college fraternity in North America which was founded at Boston University in 1909. It is one of the largest social fraternities in North America, with more than 300,000 lifetime members a ...

fraternity.

Career

Lincoln was first executive vice president of Ohio Farm Bureau, a founder of Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (now

Nationwide Insurance Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and affiliated companies, commonly shortened to Nationwide, is a group of large U.S. insurance and financial services companies based in Columbus, Ohio. The company also operates regional headquarters in Scotts ...

) and was elected president of the companies in 1939. He served until his retirement in 1964. In 1960, Lincoln headed the task force on the proposed

Food for Peace In different administrative and organizational forms, the Food for Peace program of the United States has provided food assistance around the world for more than 60 years. Approximately 3 billion people in 150 countries have benefited directly fro ...

Program for President elect John F. Kennedy. The task force report in 1961 urged the United States to expand its global food program and give or sell at current cut rate prices at least $3 billion worth of surplus food annually to poorer nations. In 1961, Lincoln was appointed to the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...

advisory council. He was a member of the executive committee of the U.S. Committee for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, the U.N. Advisory Council, and the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture. Lincoln helped found

CARE Care may refer to: Organizations and projects * CARE (New Zealand), Citizens Association for Racial Equality, a former New Zealand organisation * CARE (relief agency), "Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere", an international aid and ...

and served as president for 12 years, from its founding in 1945 until 1957. Towards the end of 1957, Lincoln announced his plans to resign from the CARE presidency. The Board of Directors accepted his decision and created a new post - Chairman of the Board. In 1957, Lincoln became CARE's first chairman, a post he held until the end of 1966.

Death

After a two-year illness, Lincoln died November 7, 1966 in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. The Murray D. Lincoln Campus Center at the University of Massachusetts, completed in 1970, is named in his honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lincoln, Murray 1892 births 1966 deaths American business executives People from Raynham, Massachusetts University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni