Richard Beatty Mellon (March 19, 1858 – December 1, 1933), sometimes R.B., was a banker, industrialist, and philanthropist from

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, Pennsylvania. He was the son of

Mellon family The Mellon family is a wealthy and influential American family from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The family includes Andrew Mellon, one of the longest serving U.S. Treasury Secretaries, while other members worked in the judicial, banking, financia ...

patriarch Thomas Mellon.

Biography

He and his brother

Andrew Mellon Andrew William Mellon (; March 24, 1855 – August 26, 1937), known also as A. W. Mellon, was an American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, and politician. The son of Mellon family patriarch Thomas Mellon ...

, sons of Judge Thomas Mellon, were frequent business partners. Richard served under Andrew at

Mellon Bank Mellon Financial Corporation was an American investment firm which was once one of the world's largest money management firms. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it was in the business of institutional and high-net-worth individual asset manage ...

and assumed its presidency in 1921 when Andrew was appointed Secretary of the Treasury. They also made joint philanthropic gifts, notably several large donations to their alma mater, the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

, including creation of the

Mellon Institute of Industrial Research The Mellon Institute of Industrial Research was a research institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that became part of Carnegie Mellon University. It was founded in 1913 by Andrew Mellon and Richard B. Mellon as part of the University of Pittsbur ...

to honor their father, which is now a part of

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

. R.B. served from 1899–1910 as president of the Pittsburgh Reduction Company, renamed the Aluminum Company of America (

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for "Aluminum Company of America") is an American industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary alu ...

) in 1907, and was heavily invested in the Pittsburgh Coal Company, today part of

CONSOL Energy Consol Energy Inc. is an American energy company with interests in coal headquartered in the suburb of Cecil Township, in the Southpointe complex, just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It employs more than 1,600 people. In 2017, Consol form ...

, where he clashed with

John L. Lewis John Llewellyn Lewis (February 12, 1880 – June 11, 1969) was an American leader of Labor unions in the United States, organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers, United Mine Workers of America (UMW) from 1920 to 1960. ...

and the

United Mine Workers The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American Labor history of the United States, labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing work ...

.Ingham, John N.
Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders
'. Greenwood Press, Westport, 1983. . Later, he was instrumental in forming Mellbank Corporation, a bank holding company, which helped the affiliated banks weather the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. In 1918, R.B. Mellon organized the Citizens' Committee on City Plan, which sought to improve Pittsburgh through better urban planning and zoning. In honor of his civic efforts, the Air and Waste Management Association recognizes individuals who have made administrative, legislative, and judicial contributions to the field of pollution abatement with the Richard Beatty Mellon Award. In 1931, R.B. Mellon, along with C.C. Macdonald, assumed control of

Idlewild Park Idlewild and Soak Zone, also known as Idlewild Park or simply Idlewild, is an amusement park in the Laurel Highlands near Ligonier, Pennsylvania, about east of Pittsburgh. Founded in 1878 as a campground along the Ligonier Valley Railroad by ...

Ligonier, Pennsylvania Ligonier is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,513 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Ligonier was settled in the 1760s. The borough is well known for nearby Idl ...

. He was the founder of the Rolling Rock Club. Mellon's philanthropic gifts were primarily church-oriented. In 1926 he established a $15 million

pension A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a " defined benefit plan", wh ...

fund for

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

ministers. He and his wife, Jennie Taylor King, were the major donors to the Cathedral of Hope, the new home for the East Liberty Presbyterian Church, which they and their parents had attended. He died on December 1, 1933, before the new building was completed. The $13.3 million in taxes paid on his estate enabled the state to meet its payroll.Beers, Paul B. ''Pennsylvania Politics Today and Yesterday: The Tolerable Accommodation''. The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, 1980. p.118. . His children, Sarah Mellon and her younger brother

Richard King Mellon Richard King Mellon (June 19, 1899 – June 3, 1970), commonly known as R.K., was an American financier, general, and philanthropist from Ligonier, Pennsylvania, and part of the Mellon family. Biography The son of Richard B. Mellon, nephew of ...

, were heirs to the family fortune alongside their cousins

Paul Mellon Paul Mellon (June 11, 1907 – February 2, 1999) was an American philanthropist and a horse breeding, breeder of thoroughbred horse racing, racehorses. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Muse ...

and

Ailsa Mellon-Bruce Ailsa Mellon Bruce (June 28, 1901 – August 25, 1969) was a prominent American socialite and Philanthropy, philanthropist who established the Avalon Foundation. Early life Ailsa was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mellon, Richard B. Mellon family 1858 births 1933 deaths Presbyterians from Pennsylvania Businesspeople from Pittsburgh American people of Scotch-Irish descent University of Pittsburgh alumni Philanthropists from Pennsylvania American industrialists American bankers