Tuesday, April 7, 2015

[NEW SERIES] HAL BATES WITH HUNTINGTON HARTFORD

 With unknown (starlet?). Photography by Walter Zurlinden.

George Huntington Hartford II (April 18, 1911 – May 19, 2008) was American businessman, philanthropist, stage and film producer, and art collector. He was also heir to the A&P supermarket fortune.

After his father's death in 1922, Hartford became one of the heirs to the estate left by his grandfather and namesake, George Huntington Hartford. After graduating from Harvard University in 1934, he only briefly worked for A&P. For the rest of his life, Hartford focused on numerous other business and charitable enterprises. He owned Paradise Island in the Bahamas, and had numerous other business and real estate interests over his lifetime including the Oil Shale Corporation (TOSCO) which he founded in 1955.

Hartford was known as one of the world's richest people, Present day valuations of Hartford's finances and assets have been drastically underestimated. His final years were spent living in the Bahamas with his daughter, Juliet.