Alfred I. du Pont
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alfred Irénée du Pont (1864-1935) was another key player in the du Pont family. He along with his cousins engineered the 1902 rescue of the family business. Orphaned son of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, II, Alfred left MIT in 1884 to work at the family's manufacturing powder plant in the Brandywine. He became a partner in the company and was sent to Europe as the U.S. Army's Chief of Ordnance. He was also assistant superintendent of the Hagley and Lower Yards. Alfred became a director in 1899.
With the looming threat of the du Pont business being sold to competitor Laflin & Rand, Alfred and his cousins T. Coleman du Pont and Pierre S. du Pont formed a partnership to buy the company. Alfred served as vice president of the new corporation and took over the black powder manufacture and sat on the Executive Committee. Alfred helped create a research program. Following a divorce and the formation of the DuPont Securities Company by his cousins, Alfred sued them, but failed to gain support from du Pont shareholders. He was forced to resign from DuPont and left the business to a variety of business ventures in Delaware and Florida. He and his wife, Jessie Ball, retired to their Jacksonville, Florida estate, Epping Forest, in 1926. He died in 1935.
