Robert Julius Thorne

Robert Julius Thorne (February 1875 – March 20, 1955) was an American businessman who was president of Montgomery Ward from 1917 to 1920.

Robert Thorne was born in February 1875 in Chicago, Illinois, to George R. Thorne. The senior Thorne was a former major in the Civil War who co-founded Montgomery Ward with his brother-in-law, A. Montgomery Ward.

He received a bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1897. He was active in the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

Robert Thorne joined Montgomery Ward's Kansas City, Missouri, branch immediately upon his graduation from Cornell. He rose to become branch manager, and then was transferred to Chicago where he was manager of the store's flagship store and a vice president of the company. In 1917, his older brother and Montgomery Ward president, William C. Thorne, died unexpectedly. Robert J. Thorne assumed the presidency of the company.

Thorne married the former Katherine B. Sterrett. The couple had five daughters: Roberta, Katherine, Laura, Narcissa and Ellen Catherine. His mother-in-law, Catherine Dietrich Willey, died in the sinking of the luxury ocean liner Lusitania in 1915.

Thorne co-founded the Employers' Association of Chicago in 1902, and played a significant role in the 1905 Chicago Teamsters' strike. He was accused in mid-1905 of bribing transport company owners to lock out their union workers in order to force them to strike.

During World War I, Thorne served as a civilian in the United States Army. He joined the Army on January 1, 1918, as an unpaid volunteer. He was named an assistant to George W. Goethals, Acting Quartermaster General of the Army. Thorne helped to radically reorganize the failing Army logistical and supply system. On March 8, 1918, Goethals named Thorne "Assistant to the Acting Quartermaster General," and issued an order to his troops that all orders from Thorne "will have the force and effect as if performed by the Acting Quartermaster General himself." Thorne left government service after the war ended.

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