Quincy Bent (July 28, 1879–May 5, 1955) was an American businessman who served as vice president of

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Until its closure in 2003, it was one of the world's largest steel-producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its success ...

Early life

Bent was born on July 28, 1879, in Steelton, Pennsylvania, to Luther Stedman Bent, superintendent of the Pennsylvania Steel Company's plant at Steelton, and Mary Stearns Felton Bent, daughter of Pennsylvania Steel president Samuel Morse Felton Sr. When Felton died in 1889, Luther S. Bent succeed him as president and the family relocated to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Career

Bent graduated from

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

in 1901, and began working at Pennsylvania Steel's Steelton plant. In 1909, he was named assistant to the president of the Maryland Steel Company, a subsidiary of Pennsylvania Steel. In 1916, Pennsylvania Steel was acquired by

and Bent became general manager of the Steelton plant. Bethlehem chairman Charles M. Schwab described Bent as "the biggest asset we bought in Pennsylvania Steel". In 1918 he was appointed vice president in charge of steel division operations, which placed him in charge of all the company's steel plants. During World War II, Bent was a member of the Steel Advisory Committee of the Army and Navy Munitions Board, and chaired two committees of the

War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Su ...

. In 1944, Bent was awarded the

American Iron and Steel Institute The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) is a trade association of North American steel producers. Including its predecessor organizations, it is one of the oldest trade associations in the United States, dating back to 1855. It assumed its ...

's Gary Medal "for outstanding leadership in the art of steel production and in contributions to the development of alloy steels to meet the needs of war emergency". Bent retired on November 1, 1947, but remained on as a director and vice president in an advisory and consulting capacity until December 31, 1947. Bent was also a trustee of Williams College and a member of the American Iron and Steel Institute, the

Iron and Steel Institute The Iron and Steel Institute was a British association originally organized by the iron trade of the north of England. Its object was the discussion of practical and scientific questions connected with the manufacture of iron and steel. History The ...

of Britain, and the American Society of Mining and Metallurgic Engineers.

Personal life

On January 4, 1910, Bent married Deborah Norris Brock. They had one son - Horace Brock Bent. The family resided at Weyhill Farms near

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Bethle ...

. In 1914, Bent built Quattro Venti, a 15-room Tuscan-style summer home in Annisquam, Massachusetts, furnished mostly with purchases made by Deborah Norris Bent during her visits to Italy.

Saugus Iron Works

Louise E. du Pont Crowninshield, one of the directors of the First Iron Works Association, an organization dedicated to preserving the site of the first integrated

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloome ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, approached Bent for a financial contribution. Bent visited the site and was intrigued by the property's

slag The general term slag may be a by-product or co-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and recycled metals depending on the type of material being produced. Slag is mainly a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. Broadly, it can be c ...

pile, which indicated that it could contain the remains of an iron works. Bent eventually convinced the American Iron and Steel Institute to fund the restoration of the Iron Works. The restoration was completed in 1954 and the Saugus Iron Works opened as a private museum run by the First Iron Works Association and funded by the American Iron and Steel Institute. After the AISI stopped funding the museum it was added to the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

system.

Death

Bent died on May 5, 1955, at Weyhill Farms following a long illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bent, Quincy 1879 births 1955 deaths Williams College alumni Bethlehem Steel people American steel industry businesspeople People from Steelton, Pennsylvania People from Gloucester, Massachusetts Businesspeople from Pennsylvania