Preston Brady Delano (April 2, 1886 – August 31, 1961) was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Comptroller of the Currency The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is an independent bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury that was established by the National Currency Act of 1863 and serves to charter, bank regulation in the United States ...

from October, 1938 to 1953. He inherited this Office from an Acting Comptroller of the Currency from April 1938 to September 1938 named Marshall R. Diggs. He graduated from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1909. Preston Delano held office for 14 years, the longest term of any Comptroller. Delano was a businessman, investment counselor, and served as governor of the Home Loan Bank Board when appointed Comptroller by President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

. He was responsible for preserving and stabilizing the national banks during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, which vastly increased the volume of money needed for war expenditures, subsequently causing government debt to rise substantially. Delano entered retirement after his resignation.

Personal life

Delano was the son of Moses Abbott Delano (1848-1930) and his wife, Ellen Verneo (nee Bennett) Delano (1848-1926). He was born in Phoenix, Michigan, but by the time of the 1900 United States Census the family was living in

Fairhaven, Massachusetts Fairhaven (Massachusett: ) is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the South Coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. The town shares a harbor wit ...

, his father's birthplace; his Delano line had long lived in Fairhaven. On May 24, 1922 in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, he married Ruth Small (April 29, 1891-February 19, 1973). Delano was a "distant cousin" of President Roosevelt, and part of the extended

Delano family In the United States, members of the Delano family include U.S. presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Ulysses S. Grant and Calvin Coolidge, astronaut Alan B. Shepard, and writer Laura Ingalls Wilder. Its progenitor is Philippe de Lannoy (1602� ...

. They are 5th cousins to be exact, sharing the same pair of 4th great-grandparents Jonathan Delano (1647-1720) and Mercy (Warren) Delano (1657-1728). Another relative is his fourth cousin, once removed

Columbus Delano Columbus Delano (June 4, 1809 – October 23, 1896) was a lawyer, rancher, banker, statesman, and a member of the prominent Delano family. Forced to live on his own at an early age, Delano struggled to become a self-made man. Delano was electe ...

, a United States Congressman from Ohio;

References

Preston Delano's obituary at the New York Times

External links

Collection of Preston Delano's works
1886 births 1961 deaths United States Comptrollers of the Currency Comptrollers in the United States Delano family Chairs of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Franklin D. Roosevelt administration personnel Truman administration personnel Eisenhower administration personnel {{US-business-bio-1880s-stub