Charles M. Schwab

Charles Michael Schwab (February 18, 1862 – September 18, 1939) was an American steel magnate. Under his leadership, Bethlehem Steel became the second-largest steel maker in the United States, and one of the most important heavy manufacturers in the world.

Schwab was born in Williamsburg, Pennsylvania, on February 18, 1862, the son of Pauline (née Farabaugh) and John Anthony Schwab. All four of his grandparents were Roman Catholic immigrants from Germany.

Schwab was raised in Loretto, Pennsylvania, which he considered his hometown. His father, John, operated a livery stable in Loretto and also served as a mail-carrier.

Schwab graduated from Saint Francis College in Loretto in 1877.

Schwab began his career as an engineer in Andrew Carnegie's steelworks, starting as a stake-driver in the engineering corps of the Edgar Thomson Steel Works and Furnaces in Braddock, Pennsylvania. He was promoted often, including to the positions of general superintendent of Homestead Works in 1887, and general superintendent of the Edgar Thomson Steel Works in 1890. In 1897, at only 35 years of age, he became president of the Carnegie Steel Company.

In 1901, he helped negotiate the secret sale of Carnegie Steel to a group of New York City–based financiers, led by J. P. Morgan. After the buyout, Schwab became the first president of the United States Steel Corporation, the company formed out of Carnegie's former holdings.

In 1903, after several clashes with Morgan and fellow US Steel executive Elbert Gary, Schwab left the company to run the Bethlehem Shipbuilding and Steel Company, which ultimately became Bethlehem Steel, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The company had shipyards in California, Delaware, and New Jersey through its brief but fortunate involvement as one of the few solvent enterprises in United States Shipbuilding Company.

Under Schwab's leadership and that of Eugene Grace, Bethlehem Steel emerged as one of the largest independent steel producers in the world. A major part of the company's success was the development of the H-beam, a precursor of today's ubiquitous I-beam. Schwab was interested in mass-producing the wide flange steel beam, but that was a risky venture that required raising capital and building a large new plant, all to make a product whose ability to sell was unproven. In his most famous remark, Schwab told his secretary, "I've thought the whole thing over, and if we are going bust, we will go bust big."

In 1908, Bethlehem Steel began making the beam, which revolutionized building construction and contributed to the age of the skyscraper. Its success helped make Bethlehem Steel the second-largest steel company in the world. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was incorporated, virtually as a company town, by uniting four previous villages. In 1910, Schwab broke the Bethlehem Steel strike by calling out the newly formed Pennsylvania State Police. Schwab successfully kept labor unions out of Bethlehem Steel throughout his tenure, although Bethlehem Steel unionized in 1941, two years after his death.

Schwab married Emma Eurana Dinkey (1859–1939) on May 1, 1883. Mrs. Schwab lived in Weatherly, Pennsylvania, and donated $85,000 to build a school there.

Schwab eventually became very wealthy. He moved to New York City's Upper West Side, which at the time was considered the "wrong" side of Central Park, where he built "Riverside", the most ambitious private house ever built in New York City. The $7 million 75-room house, designed by French architect Maurice Hébert, combined details from three French chateaux on a full city block. After Schwab's death, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia turned down a proposal to make Riverside the official mayoral residence, deeming it too grandiose. It was eventually razed and replaced by an apartment block.

Schwab's wife died on January 12, 1939. Schwab died nine months later, on September 18 of that year, of heart disease at his apartment on Park Avenue in New York City. His funeral was held at St. Patrick's Cathedral and about 2,000 people were estimated to line the streets of the procession. Al Smith, John D. Rockefeller Jr., and Charles Evans Hughes were among those in attendance at his funeral. He was originally interred at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York, but his remains were moved on April 29, 1940, to a private mausoleum at Saint Michael Catholic Church Cemetery in Loretto, Pennsylvania.

A portrayal of Schwab is featured in the History Channel's 2012 miniseries docudrama The Men Who Built America.