Ronald P. Stanton (March 26, 1928 — September 26, 2016) was an American businessman who founded Transammonia Inc (now Trammo, Inc).

Biography

Stanton was born Ronald Philip Steinberg to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

on March 26, 1928, the son of Hedwig (née Kern) and Eric Steinberg. His parents divorced when he was one and he and his mother moved in with her parents. In 1937, he and his mother fled from

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. His paternal grandparents remained in Germany where they committed suicide in order to avoid being taken to the concentration camps. Stanton attended public schools and changed his surname to "Stanton" after high school. In 1950, he earned a B.A. from the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

and then served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. After his service, he went to work for the International Ore and Fertilizer Corporation eventually becoming executive vice president of the fertilizer trading division. In 1965, he left the company and founded his own specialized trading and distribution company then named Transammonia Inc. Trammo grew rapidly marketing, trading, distributing, and transporting ammonia, fertilizers,

liquefied petroleum gas Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas) is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, propylene, butylene, isobutane and n-butane. LPG is used as a fuel gas in heating appliances, cooking e ...

es, petrochemicals, coal, sulfuric acid, and sulfur. By 2009, it was one of the largest privately owned companies in New York.

Philanthropy

Stanton typically donated anonymously. In 2008, he donated $25 million to

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

(the plaza at Lincoln Center is named Ronald P. Stanton Way). In 2006, he donated $100 million gift to Yeshiva University. He ultimately gave away $300 million during his life, mostly in New York. Stanton served on the boards of Yeshiva University, Lincoln Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

Personal life

Stanton was married twice. His first wife was Ruth Schloss; they had one son, Oliver Stanton before divorcing. His second wife was Mei Wu; they had two children: Hedi Stanton and Philip Stanton before divorcing. Stanton was an art collector owning works by Renoir,

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

, and

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanton, Ronald 1928 births 2016 deaths American company founders 20th-century American philanthropists 21st-century American Jews 20th-century American Jews