Ralph Thomas ReedPeter Z. Grossman, American Express: The People Who Built the Great Financial Empire, 1987 (July 6, 1890, Philadelphia – January 21, 1968, New York City) was the president of the

American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...

Company from 1944 to 1960. He joined the company in 1919 as assistant to the controller. He was the person who made the decision to create the American Express

charge card A charge card is a type of credit card that enables the cardholder to make purchases which are paid for by the card issuer, to whom the cardholder becomes indebted. The cardholder is obliged to repay the debt to the card issuer in full by the d ...

, first issued in 1958.

Biography

He was born on July 6, 1890 in Philadelphia, to William Arter and Jennie Smith Reed. He was raised in Philadelphia, the second son of a Welsh-born lumber company accountant. He won a scholarship to Princeton, but dropped out when his father became unemployed. Reed got an accounting job, and at night, began attending Wharton School. In 1915, he graduated from the

Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. He joined

as assistant to the controller in 1919. From 1944 to 1960 he was president of American Express. ''TIME'' magazine in 1956 described Reed, as Amex president, as the "businessman who first applied to foreign travel all the ingenuity and resources of U.S. industry," stating he had done "more than anyone else in the world to lure the American abroad and make his trip a success." In his twelve years as president, he had increased the company's offices from 50 to 344, increased employees from 1,500 to 8,600, and saw a 318% increase in total assets, at $621 million. He also saw the implementation of Amex programs intended to make travel easier and cheaper for Americans, including trip planning services, and detective services to find traveling family members and missing items. ''TIME'' noted his personal proclivity for lavish international travel and tipping, and that he once "rented the entire first floor of London’s Hotel Savoy to entertain 500 cocktail guests." Reed approved the first Amex card, which appeared in 1958. He was succeeded as president of Amexco in 1960 by Howard L. Clark. He was chairman of the executive committee of Amex from 1960 to 1965, when he retired. He was on the advisory committee of the

Foreign Service Institute The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the United States federal government's primary training institution for members of the U.S. foreign service community, preparing American diplomats as well as other professionals to advance U.S. foreign ...

of the

United States State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

and was also an adviser to the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

. President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

appointed him the US representative at the inauguration of the

President of Nicaragua The co-presidents of Nicaragua (), officially known as the presidency of the Republic of Nicaragua (), are the heads of state and head of government, government of Nicaragua. The office was created in the Constitution of 1854. From 1825 until ...

in 1957. He was married to Edna May Young, and their daughter was named Phyllis Ann Reed. A resident of New York City and Palm Beach, Ralph T. Reed died at

Roosevelt Hospital Mount Sinai West, opened in 1871 as Roosevelt Hospital, is affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System. The 514-bed facility is located in the Midtown West neighborhood of New York City. The fa ...

in New York in July 1890 after falling ill, at the age of 77.

Boards and committees

He was a director of the

Western Union Telegraph Company The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company ch ...

, the American International Life Assurance Company of New York, the First National Bank of West Palm Beach, Florida, and the Lafayette Fellowship Foundation of Philadelphia. He was on the board of the directors of the American Cancer Society, a trustee of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, a trustee of Roosevelt Hospital, and a trustee of the United States Trust Company of New York.

References

1890 births 1968 deaths American financial businesspeople American Express people Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni {{1880s-US-business-bio-stub

Biography

Boards and committees

See also

References