Major Ralph Lowell (July 23, 1890 – May 15, 1978) was a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

veteran, banker, and philanthropist from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. Lowell was born in

Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts Chestnut Hill is an affluent New England village located west of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Like all Massachusetts villages, Chestnut Hill is located within one or more incorporated municipal entities. It is located partia ...

, to John and Mary Emlen Lowell (Lowell 1899, p 302). Lowell graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1912. He married Charlotte Loring (1897–1981) on September 1, 1917.

Career

Ralph Lowell chose to pursue a career in banking and finance, as

his family ''His Family'' is a novel by Ernest Poole published in 1917 about the life of a New York widower and his three daughters in the 1910s. It received the first Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1918. Plot introduction ''His Family'' tells the story of ...

had a long history in business and banking in Boston. He eventually became president of the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company. And in 1955, Ralph received an LL.D. from

Bates College Bates College () is a private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian Houses as some of the dormitories. It maintains of nature p ...

Philanthropist

Lowell was appointed as the sole Trustee of the

Lowell Institute The Lowell Institute is a United States educational foundation located in Boston, Massachusetts, providing both free public lectures, and also advanced lectures. It was endowed by a bequest of $250,000 left by John Lowell Jr., who died in 1836. ...

, in 1943, upon the death of his cousin, Harvard President

A. Lawrence Lowell Abbott Lawrence Lowell (December 13, 1856 – January 6, 1943) was an American educator and legal scholar. He was President of Harvard University from 1909 to 1933. With an "aristocratic sense of mission and self-certainty," Lowell cut a large f ...

. Lowell would serve as Trustee of the Lowell Institute for the rest of his life and named his son, John Lowell, to succeed him. In cooperation with another Harvard President,

James B. Conant James Bryant Conant (March 26, 1893 – February 11, 1978) was an American chemist, a transformative President of Harvard University, and the first U.S. Ambassador to West Germany. Conant obtained a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard in 1916. ...

, Lowell used his position at the Institute to help found the WGBH radio and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

stations. He served as president on the board of the

WGBH Educational Foundation The WGBH Educational Foundation (also known as GBH since August 2020) is an American public broadcasting group based in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1951, it holds the licenses to all of the PBS member stations in Massachusetts, and op ...

from 1951 into the 1970s. ;Grand Bostonian :"In 1973, Lowell was one of seven citizens officially recognized as 'Grand Bostonians' for lives that 'mirrored the spirit and dignity that have made Boston and its people so extraordinary.' The years of Lowell's philanthropic and civic works paralleled significant transformations in the political, social, and cultural landscape of Boston, and his remarkable achievements reflect his key role in the making of a 'New Boston' during the mid-twentieth century." (Gelfand 1998) Lowell died in Boston on May 15, 1978, of pneumonia at the age of eighty-seven and was buried in the Old Westwood Cemetery in

Westwood, Massachusetts Westwood is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,266 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. History Westwood was first settled in 1641 and was part of the town of Dedham, originally called 'West De ...

.(1997, p 33) ''Westwood One Hundred,'' Boston:Suburban World Newspapers.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowell, Ralph Businesspeople from Boston 1890 births 1978 deaths Philanthropists from Massachusetts Bates College alumni Harvard College alumni WGBH Educational Foundation 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American businesspeople

Career

Philanthropist

See also

References

External links