Marshall Field III (September 28, 1893 – November 8, 1956) was an American investment banker, publisher, racehorse owner/breeder, philanthropist, grandson of businessman Marshall Field, heir to the Marshall Field department store fortune, and a leading financial supporter and founding board member of Saul Alinsky's

community organizing Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community bui ...

network Industrial Areas Foundation.

Early life

Born in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, he was the son of Albertine Huck and Marshall Field, Jr. He was raised primarily in England, where he was educated at Eton College and the University of Cambridge. In 1917, he joined the

1st Illinois Cavalry The 1st Illinois Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and Spanish–American War. Civil War Service Companies "A" to "G" of the 1st Illinois Volunteer Cavalry were mustered int ...

and served with the 122nd Field Artillery in France during World War I. He built an estate in 1925.

Early career

On his discharge after the war, Field returned to Chicago where he went to work as a bond salesman at Lee, Higginson & Co. After learning the business, he left to open his own investment business. A director of

Guaranty Trust Co. Guaranty Trust Company may refer to: * Guaranty Trust Holding Company PLC, a multinational financial services group headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria *Morgan Guaranty Trust J.P. Morgan & Co. is a commercial and investment banking institution fou ...

of New York City, he eventually teamed up with Charles F. Glore and Pierce C. Ward to create the investment banking firm of Marshall Field, Glore, Ward & Co. In 1926, Field left the firm to pursue other interests. Already a recipient of substantial money from the estate of his grandfather Marshall Field, on his 50th birthday he inherited the bulk of the remainder of the family fortune. His brother, Henry Field, who was to have shared in the fortune, had died in 1917.

Publishing industry

He was primarily a publisher, and in late 1941 he founded the '' Chicago Sun'', which later became the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. The primary investor in the newspaper '' PM'', he eventually bought out the other investors to become the publisher. He also created ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'' as a weekly magazine supplement for his own paper and for others in the United States. By 1946, ''Parade'' had achieved a circulation of 3.5 million. In 1944, Marshall Field III formed the private holding company Field Enterprises. That same year, he purchased Simon & Schuster and Pocket Books. After his death, his heirs sold the company back to its founders, Richard L. Simon and

M. Lincoln Schuster Max Lincoln Schuster (born Max Schuster) ( ; March 2, 1897 – December 20, 1970) was an American book publisher and the co-founder of the publishing company Simon & Schuster. Schuster was instrumental in the creation of Pocket Books, and the mas ...

, while Leon Shimkin and James M. Jacobson acquired Pocket Books.

Thoroughbred racing

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

player, Field invested heavily in Thoroughbred racehorses in the United States and in Great Britain. Among his successful British horses were three fillies, who won the Irish Oaks, Golden Corn, who won England's Middle Park Stakes and Champagne Stakes in 1921 and the

July Cup The July Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run on the July Course at Newmarket over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres ...

in 1923. In the United States, Nimba was the 1927 American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly, and Tintagel won the 1935 Futurity Stakes and was voted American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt. In 1926, one year after his estate was built, Marshall Field partnered with

Robert A. Fairbairn The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

William Woodward, Sr. William Woodward Sr. (April 7, 1876 – September 25, 1953) was an American banker and major owner and breeder in thoroughbred horse racing. __TOC__ Early life Woodward was born in New York City on April 7, 1876. He was a son of Sarah Abagail ( ...

, and

Arthur B. Hancock Arthur Boyd Hancock (June 26, 1875 - April 1, 1957) was a breeder of thoroughbred racehorses who established Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky, United States. Born at Ellerslie Estate in Albemarle County, Virginia, near Charlottesville, Arth ...

to import

Sir Gallahad III Sir Gallahad (1920–1949) was a French Thoroughbred racehorse and an extremely important sire in the United States. Racing career Racing at age two in France for his British breeder/owner, Jefferson Davis Cohn, Sir Gallahad earned victory in ...

from France to stand at stud in the United States. One of their horses, named Assignation, born in 1930, was the great-great grandfather of Secretariat. The Marshall Field III Estate is a mansion built in 1925 on

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

which was designed by architect John Russell Pope. It was built on the grounds of a estate, now called

Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve is a state park on Lloyd Neck, a peninsula extending into the Long Island Sound, in the Village of Lloyd Harbor, New York. It is operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preser ...

, which he purchased in 1921. an
''Accompanying 16 photos, exterior and interior, from 1975 and 1976''
/ref> It is a New York State Historic Site.

Philanthropy

Field supported a number of charitable institutions and in 1940 created the Field Foundation. He personally served as president of the Child Welfare League of America. He also donated substantial funds to support the New York Philharmonic

symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

orchestra and served as its president.

Death and family

Field died in 1956 of

brain cancer A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and secondar ...

. His widow and third wife, Ruth Pruyn Field, who had previously been married to sportsman Ogden Phipps, died on January 25, 1994, at 86. They had two daughters, Phyllis Field and Fiona Field. By his first wife, Evelyn Marshall (the daughter of Charles Henry Marshall), he had daughters Barbara Field and Bettina Field and son Marshall Field IV. By his second wife, of whom he was the second husband, Audrey Evelyn James (April 21, 1902 - February 14, 1968), whom he married on August 18, 1930, and divorced in Reno, Washoe County, Nevada, in 1934, he left no issue.