Robert S. Lovett

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Robert Scott Lovett (June 22, 1860 – June 19, 1932) was a lawyer and railroad president. Born at San Jacinto, Texas he was admitted to the bar in 1882 and then served as attorney for various railroad interests. In 1890 he married Lavinia Chilton Abercrombie, daughter of lawyer and Texas state senator Leonard Anderson Abercrombie, granddaughter of Justice William Parish Chilton. Their only child was Robert A. Lovett. From 1904 to 1909 Robert S. Lovett was general counsel, and after 1909 president, of the E. H. Harriman system of railroads -- the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific. In the wake of the Northern Securities Case he was compelled to dissolve the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific merger in 1913. In 1914 he accepted directorships in the New York Central and Nickel Plate railroads. Consequently, the Lovett family settled into a "Gold Coast" mansion at Locust Valley, New York. During World War One he filled important positions in the management of railroads, and was chosen president (1919) and chairman of the Board of Directors (1920) of the Union Pacific System.

[edit] Legacy

In World War II the United States liberty ship SS Robert S. Lovett was named in his honor.

[edit] References

• Bryant, Keith L., Jr., Editor. Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography, Railroads in the Twentieth Century. New York: Facts on File, 1990.

• Frey, Robert L., Editor. Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography, Railroads in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Facts on File, 1988.

• Klein, Maury. The Life and Legend of E.H. Harriman. Chapel Hill [N.C.]: University of North Carolina Press, 2000.

Preceded by E. H. Harriman	President of Southern Pacific Company 1909 – 1911	Succeeded by William Sproule
Preceded by vacant	Chairman of the Southern Pacific Company Executive Committee 1909 – 1913	Succeeded by Julius Krutschnitt
Preceded by E. H. Harriman	President of Union Pacific Railroad 1910 – 1911	Succeeded by A. L. Mohler