Girard B. Henderson (February 25, 1905 – November 16, 1983) was an American business man and philanthropist. He was a director of Avon Products and the founder of the Alexander Dawson Schools. The author Donald Porter described him as a "short, tough-talking millionaire".

Early life

Henderson is the son of Alexander Dawson Henderson, one of the co-initiators of what would become Avon Products. He married Theodora G. Henderson. In January 1955, they entered a separation agreement working towards a divorce. They had two daughters. On June 5, 1964, Henderson married his second wife, Mary Hollingsworth (1905–1988) in

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Career

In 1933, Henderson opened the Henderson Motor Co., a Chrysler Dodge dealership in

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. The company provided underground cable service to Monterey Peninsula communities. The company had its receiving antenna site on the high ground of Pebble Beach. In 1966, ''Time'' magazine published a story that revealed Henderson's interests in half a dozen businesses, and that he owned 1,035,410 shares of Avon stock. Henderson owned a majority stake in a company called Underground World Homes. In 1964, he sponsored the Underground World Home exhibit at the New York World's Fair. In addition to the underground home, there was also an exhibit sponsored by Henderson called "Why Live Underground?" At the height of the Cold War and fearing nuclear war or other catastrophe, Henderson built and lived in underground homes in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

and

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

. In 1978, architect Jay Swayze designed and built for Henderson a large underground house in Las Vegas, that included a swimming pool and putting green surrounded by pastel murals. The property sold in 1990 for $1.3 million after Henderson died, and again in 2005 for $2 million. In 1964, Henderson got involved in the Blue Channel Seafood Company in

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. The company did

direct mail Advertising mail, also known as direct mail (by its senders), junk mail (by its recipients), mailshot or admail (North America), letterbox drop or letterboxing (Australia) is the delivery of advertising material to recipients of postal mail. The d ...

advertising of their products, which included clam chowder and crabmeat. He acquired full ownership in 1968 from Sterling Harris, the founder and president. Henderson created the Dawson Yacht Corporation in Las Vegas, Nevada, as a subsidiary of Alexander Dawson, Inc.

Alexander Dawson Foundation

In 1957, Henderson formed the Alexander Dawson Foundation. In 1980, he created the Colorado Junior Republic School (CJR) on a 380 acre site near Lafayette, Colorado, as a boarding school for children who otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity for an education.

Death

On November 16, 1983, Henderson died. He is buried near

Beaufort, South Carolina Beaufort ( , a different pronunciation from that used by the city with the same name in North Carolina) is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South ...

References

External links

Mary's Family Connections
by Mary Anthony Lathrop (1979)
Video tour of Girard B. Henderson's Jay Swayze designed underground home
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Girard B. 1905 births 1983 deaths Businesspeople from Brooklyn People from Suffern, New York 20th-century American businesspeople People associated with direct selling