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Biography of Theodore Newton VailName: Theodore Newton VailBirth Date: July 16, 1845 Death Date: April 16, 1920 Place of Birth: Minerva, Ohio, United States Nationality: American Gender: Male Occupations: entrepreneur, business executive Theodore Newton Vail Theodore Newton Vail (1845--1920) was an American entrepreneur who made his fortune in the telephone and mining business and became the first president of the Bell Telephone Company (later American Telegraph and Telephone or AT&T). President of the company for two separate tenures, he was instrumental in establishing telephone service, both local and long distance. A true visionary when it came to running a corporation, Vail oversaw the building of the first U.S. coast-to-coast telephone system, and it was his dedication to basic science that initiated a new research arm for AT&T's Bell Laboratories.Vail was born on July 16, 1845, near the town of Minerva, Ohio. His family was rich and influential, its members descended from John Vail, a Quaker preacher who settled in New Jersey in 1710.Strong Family HeritageAffluence was not the Vail family's only attribute. There was a strong tradition of mechanical innovation, business acumen, …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…April 16, 1920, in New York state. He was survived by his adopted daughter, Katherine Hurd; two sons, Theodore N. V. and Andrew C.; 14 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.After his death, the Vail Award was established to honor his memory. It is awarded to individuals who perform above and beyond the call of duty on their jobs or who display unusual bravery or heroism during emergencies. Further Reading Fortune, September 18, 2001."History and Regulation of the Telephone Industry," The International Engineering Consortium Web site, http://www.scte.org/chapters/newengland/reference/Telephony/topic 01.htm (March 15, 2003)."Theodore N. Vail," District Energy Biographies, http://www.energy.rochester.edu/bio/vail/ (March 15, 2003).Theodore Newton Vail, Biography.com, http://search.biography.com/print_record.pl?id=20292 (March 20, 2003)."Theodore Newton Vail," GeneExchange.org, http://www.genexchange.org/bioreg2.cfm?state=nj&=8916 (March 15, 2003)."Theodore Newton Vail," Transistorized, http://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/addlbios/vail.html (March 15, 2003). |