Benjamin N. Duke
| Benjamin Newton Duke | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 25, 1855 Durham, North Carolina |
| Died | January 8, 1929 (aged 73) New York City |
| Occupation | Tobacco |
| Spouse(s) | Sarah Pearson Angier |
| Children |
Mary Lillian Duke Angier Buchanan Duke |
| Parent(s) | Washington Duke |
| Relatives | James Buchanan Duke, brother |
Benjamin Newton Duke (April 25, 1855 – January 8, 1929) was an American tobacco, textile and energy industrialist and philanthropist.
He was the son of industrialist Washington Duke and half-brother to Brodie Leonidas Duke (1846–1919), as well as being the full brother of James Buchanan Duke (1856–1925).
On February 21, 1875, Benjamin Duke married Sarah Pearson Angier, with whom he had a daughter, Mary Lillian Duke, and a son, Angier Buchanan Duke. Portraits of all four members of the family were commissioned from the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla in 1911.
He entered his father's tobacco business, and in 1890 became vice-president of the American Tobacco Company. In 1892, the Duke family opened their first textile business in Durham, North Carolina, with Benjamin Duke at its head.
In 1905, he and his brother James founded the Southern Power Company, which later became known as Duke Energy. The company initially supplied electrical power to the Duke textile factory. Within two decades, their power facilities had been greatly expanded, and they were supplying electricity to more than 300 cotton mills and other industrial companies through an electrical grid that supplied cities and towns in the Piedmont Region of North and South Carolina.
Benjamin Duke and his brother were major contributors to the economic growth of the North Carolina economy and would expand into other areas with sizable investments in railroads and banks.
Benjamin was a primary benefactor of Trinity College after it relocated to Durham in 1892. Over the years, he donated substantial funds for improvements, additions, and scholarships. Between 1926 and 1929, he donated approximately $3,000,000 (more than $30,000,000 in 2005 dollars) to twenty-seven different southern institutions of higher learning. Today, Duke University offers the B. N. Duke Scholars program.
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