William R. Kenan Jr.
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William Rand Kenan Jr. (April 30, 1872 – July 28, 1965) was an American chemist, engineer, manufacturer, dairy farmer, and philanthropist.


Early life

William Rand Kenan Jr. was born in
Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the ...
, on April 30, 1872., son of William Rand Kenan (1845-1903) and Mary Hargrave. His father, who became a trustee of the University of North Carolina, was a Civil War veteran, customs collector, white supremacist, life insurance agent, and wholesale merchant. He was a brother of
Sarah Graham Kenan Sarah Graham Kenan (February 17, 1876 – March 16, 1968) was an American heiress and philanthropist. She inherited a third of her sister's share of the Standard Oil fortune in 1917 and established the Sarah Graham Kenan Foundation. Through her fo ...
and a grandson of
Owen Rand Kenan Owen Rand Kenan, (March 4, 1804 – March 3, 1887) was a North Carolina politician. He was born in Kenansville, North Carolina in Duplin County, and served in the North Carolina House of Commons from 1834 to 1838. He also represented the state ...
. Kenan graduated from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
in 1894 and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.


Career

He started his career by establishing plants for acetylene production in the United States, Australia, and Germany. In 1896, he worked for
Union Carbide Union Carbide Corporation is an American chemical corporation wholly owned subsidiary (since February 6, 2001) by Dow Chemical Company. Union Carbide produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers befor ...
(now a subsidiary of
Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastic ...
) in
Niagara Falls, New York Niagara Falls is a City (New York), city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city had a total population of 48,671. It is adjacent to the Niagara River, across from the city of Niagara ...
. Between 1899 and 1900, he helped develop
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
's east coast with oilman
Henry Flagler Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 – May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil, which was first based in Ohio. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founde ...
. This included the construction of the
Florida East Coast Railway The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México. Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a pr ...
and the Florida East Coast Hotel Company, including the
Breakers Hotel The Breakers Palm Beach is a historic, Renaissance Revival style luxury hotel with 538 rooms. It is located at 1 South County Road in Palm Beach, Florida. Early history First known as The Palm Beach Inn, the original hotel was opened on January ...
in
Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoas ...
. In 1901, Flagler married Kenan's sister, Mary Lily Kenan. In 1904, William Kenan married Alice Pomroy, whom he had met at Flagler's home. After Flagler's death in 1913, Mary Lily and Flagler's surviving two sisters inherited his estate. In 1917, Mary Lily died and Kenan inherited most of Flagler's estate. He moved to Lockport, New York, his wife Alice's hometown, and ran the Western Block Company, the largest maker of block and tackle in the United States. He maintained Randleigh Farm, a model dairy farm for research with Jersey cattle. He spent the rest of his life writing and donating resources to philanthropic endeavors. In 1944, Kenan was awarded an honorary
Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...
degree by the University of North Carolina.


Death and legacy

Kenan died in 1965. In 1986, the Kenan Center was founded at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It houses the
Kenan Institute for the Study of Private Enterprise Kenan (also spelled Qenan, Kaynan or Cainan) (; ar, كِنَاْنْ, Keynān; grc-x-biblical, Καϊνάμ, Kaïnám) is an Antediluvian patriarch first mentioned in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. In scriptures According to Gen ...
as well as the ''William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust'' and ''William R. Kenan Jr. Fund''. Moreover, he provided the funds for Kenan Memorial Stadium and it was named, at his request, in honor of his parents. When it was revealed that his father participated in the murder of innocent African Americans during the Wilmington Massacre
Wilmington insurrection of 1898 The Wilmington insurrection of 1898, also known as the Wilmington massacre of 1898 or the Wilmington coup of 1898, was a coup d'état and massacre carried out by white supremacists in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States, on Thursday, Novem ...
, the stadium was rededicated to William Kenan Jr. ("William Sr. was the commander of a
white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...
paramilitary force, which massacred scores of black residents in Wilmington, on a single day in 1898.") The Kenan–Flagler Business School at UNC is named for him and his sister, Mary Kenan Flagler. The Kenan Institute for Ethics at
Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
was founded in 1995. Eighty-five endowed professorships at colleges and universities in the United States are named for him. Another Kenan Center is located in Lockport, New York. The Lockport area also benefited significantly from Kenan's philanthropy.


Writings

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References


External links

* (1935–1956) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kenan, William R. Jr. 1872 births 1965 deaths People from Wilmington, North Carolina Businesspeople from Florida People from Lockport, New York University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni American chemists Farmers from New York (state) Philanthropists from New York (state) Scientists from New York (state)
William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...