Irénée du Pont

Irénée du Pont I (December 21, 1876 – December 19, 1963) was a U.S. businessman, former president of the DuPont company and head of the Du Pont trust.

Spouse Irene du Pont

Children

Irene Sophie ‘Sophie’ Du Pont May (1900-2001)
Margaretta Lammot Du Pont Greenewalt (1902-1991)
Constance ‘Connie’ Simons Du Pont Darden (1903-2002)
Eleanor Francis Du Pont Rust (1906/7-1992)
Doris Elise du Pont (1909-1930)
Mariana ‘Mary Ann’ Du Pont Silliman (1911-1992)
Octavia ‘Tibi’ Mary Du Pont Bredin (1913-2006)
Lucile Evelina Du Pont Flint (1915-1996)
Irénée Du Pont II (1920-)

Parents

Lammot du Pont(1831-1884)
Mary Belin (1839-1913)

Relatives

Pierre S. du Pont, brother
Lammot du Pont II, brother

Biography

Early life

He was born on December 21, 1876 in New Castle, Delaware. He was a descendant of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. He graduated from Andover Academy in 1894 and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1897. While at MIT, he was a member of the Phi Beta Epsilon fraternity, where he was one of the first brothers, in the course of his lifetime, contributing over $4,000,000.

Career

He worked for Fenn's Manufacturing Contracting Company for a number of years before he joined DuPont. He was president of DuPont from 1919 to 1925. He oversaw DuPont at a time when eight workers were fatally poisoned with tetraethyl lead while he issued statements about there being "slight difficulties". He retired from the board of directors of DuPont in 1958.

Personal life

He built a mansion in Varadero, Cuba, which he named Xanadu. In 1957, Fortune estimated his wealth at between $200 million and $400 million, making him one of the two richest members of the Du Pont family at that time, and one of the twenty richest Americans (see Wealthiest Americans (1957)). In the 1930s, he was a proponent of eugenics.

He died on December 19, 1963 in Wilmington, Delaware.