Charles Deering

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ramon Casas i Carbó portrait of Charles Deering, c. 1914

Charles Deering (born July 31, 1852, Paris, Maine; died February 5, 1927, Miami, Florida) was a U.S. business man and philanthropist.

Charles was the son of William Deering, founder of the Deering Harvester Company. In 1873 he graduated from the United States Naval Academy, and served as an officer in the Navy until 1881, when he became secretary of his father's company.

After the merger which combined Deering Harvester and the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company into the International Harvester Company in 1902, Charles Deering became the chairman of the board of the new company.

Deering was also an art collector and in 1910 he had the Palau Maricel built with the help of the artist Miquel Utrillo i Morlius in Sitges, just south of Barcelona in Spain. The building was connected by a bridge across the lane to a second building he purchased, which now houses the Museu Maricel. A portrait of himself by Catalan artist Ramon Casas i Carbó can be seen in the museum, which is open to visitors. The Palau opens only in summer.

In 1930, construction began on the Charles Deering Library on Northwestern University's Evanston campus. Funding was provided primarily through donations made by the Deering, McCormick, and Danielson families. Dedicated in 1933, it served as Northwestern's primary library until 1970, when an adjacent library was constructed. The Deering Library now houses certain special collections of the Northwestern Library, along with art, music, government information, maps, and the University Archives.