Spencer Truman Olin (August 20, 1900 – April 14, 1995) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. He was an executive of the Olin Corporation, founded in 1892 by his father,

Franklin W. Olin Franklin Walter Olin (January 9, 1860 – May 21, 1951) was the founder of the Olin Corporation and the Franklin W. Olin Foundation. He was born in Woodford, Vermont, and his father built mills and waterwheels. College and professional athletics ...

, eventually serving as first vice president of Olin Industries, though he reduced his involvement with the company after its 1954 merger with Mathieson. He was raised in Alton, Illinois. In 1921 he was graduated from Cornell University, where he had studied mechanical engineering, and where he had joined Kappa Sigma fraternity like his father. Olin was very active in the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

throughout much of his adult life. He was an important fundraiser for Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as the party's national finance chairman from 1958 to 1960 and treasurer of the Republican National Committee from 1960 to 1962. Outside of his professional and political life, he won a pro-am golf tournament with Arnold Palmer at The Greenbrier in 1954, beginning a 40-year friendship. The win helped launch Palmer's career. Later, when Olin donated $5 million to build a public golf course in Alton, Palmer agreed to design it. He was a significant donor to the Washington University School of Medicine, whose first residence hall is named after him, its construction anchored by a $500,000 gift, and also home to the Ann Whitney Olin Women's Building, named after his wife. At least seven professorships, fellowships, and scholarships and the university were funded through the Spencer T. & Ann W. Olin Foundation, which was established in 1958. The foundation also funded a variety of environmental groups, health and medical education and services, education, and arts groups in the St. Louis area and around the United States until it ceased operations in 2004. Olin also gave generously to

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, his alma mater, where the research chemistry lab is named after him, as well as the annual Olin Lecture. Washington University School of Medicine was also a leading beneficiary. Both universities received $30 million dollars in $1.5M annual installments starting in 1986. Spencer Olin died at his home in Jupiter Island, Florida, in 1995 at age 94.

References

1900 births 1995 deaths Cornell University alumni American manufacturing businesspeople Philanthropists from Illinois People from Alton, Illinois Illinois Republicans Florida Republicans 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists Washington University School of Medicine people {{US-business-bio-1900s-stub