Stephen Mather

At 62 years old, Stephen Mather physical status not available right now. We will update Stephen Mather's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Stephen Tyng Mather (July 4, 1867 – January 22, 1930) was an American industrialist and conservator who, as president and owner of Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company, became a millionaire.

Mather, a writer and journalist, led a publicity drive to urge the establishment of a joint federal department that would control the National Parks Administration, which was established in 1916.

Mather was appointed as the first director of the National Park Service in 1917, the first department within the Department of Interior.

He served until 1929, during which Mather established a national service group, increased the number of parks and national monuments, and established systemic guidelines for adding new properties to the federal system.

Early life

Stephen Tyng Mather was born in San Francisco on July 4, 1867, and was named after renowned Episcopal minister Stephen Tyng of New York, who was admired by his parents, Joseph W. Mather and Bertha Jemima Walker. Mather attended Boys' High School (now Lowell High School) in San Francisco and graduated from the University of California in 1887.

Mather's family moved to New York, where he worked as a reporter for the New York Sun from 1893 to 1893. Robert Sterling Yard, another reporter, was introduced and befriended by him during the time, and he would become a close friend. Mather married Jane Thacker Floy of Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1893, with Yard serving as his best man. Bertha Floy Mather, their only daughter, was born. Mather became the sole owner of the Mather family homestead in Connecticut in 1906, which had been built by his great-grandfather about 1778. During the summers, he and his family used it, and he regarded it as his true home.

Source

Business career

Mather began working with the Pacific Coast Borax Company in New York, where his father was administrator. Borax is a component of a number of detergents and compounds that were mined almost exclusively in California. Borax is a product, and as such, one brand is just as good as another. For a company to be profitable, it must mine the product more economically, process it more effectively, or market it more aggressively. In 1894, the younger Mather joined his wife in Chicago, where he established a distribution center for the company. He was instrumental in company advertising and sales promotion. He is in particular responsible for the suggestion that the brand "20 Mule Team Borax" be added to the company's name, which has since become a household name around the country.

Mather founded another borax company in 1898, assisting a friend, Thomas Thorkildsen. Mather resigned from the Pacific Coast and joined Thorkildsen full-time in 1904 after suffering a severe bout of bipolar disorder in 1903 and having his pay withheld during extended sick leave. The Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company was named after their company's name. Their company flourished, and by 1914, they were millionaires. Mather then had the funds to pursue personal interests, and although he resigned from the company to pursue them in his mid-forties, he maintained them. Mather served in several civic organizations, including the Chicago City Club and the Municipal Voter's League.

Source