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Happy Hour Series: The Eccentric Billionaire
Guest Speaker: Nancy Kriplen

If you have watched programs on National Public Radio, you will recognize the names John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur. Their foundation provides the funding for many NPR programs.

John Donald MacArthur (1897-1978) was the country's second-richest man at the time of his death and became one of its great benefactors. He was hated, feared, and admired. Join this ESU Happy Hour on Wednesday, June 8 at 3:00 pm Centra Time to learn his fascinating story. It's a free program but registration is required. 

Every year, some two dozen American writers, artists, intellectuals, and scientists receive as much as a half million dollars in grants known as the "genius awards" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. But MacArthur was not the benevolent figure you might expect. Stingier than J. Paul Getty, as money-obsessed as Howard Hughes, and as ruthless as Cornelius Vanderbilt, MacArthur was one of the most multi-layered men in business history.

Now, in this first full biography of John D. MacArthur as he really was, acclaimed author, Nancy Kriplen reveals the man behind the myth -- the often vulgar, sometimes unethical, always ambitious rogue who would become one of America's wealthiest men.

The Eccentric Billionaire chronicles how MacArthur amassed his fortune, rising from a poverty-saturated childhood as the son of a fire-and-brimstone preacher to become an insurance and real estate mogul. As sole owner of Bankers Life and Casualty, he also built a real estate empire that spanned the continent. Based on interviews with members of the MacArthur family as well as previously undiscovered letters and papers, this book reveals MacArthur's tumultuous private life, including his quickie divorce from his first wife and his Mexican marriage to Catherine, his brother's cute, clever teenage secretary who would help him on his climb to riches. Extensively researched and beautifully written, The Eccentric Billionaire is a revealing look at a man whose influence has extended in ways he never dreamed.

About Nancy Kriplen

Nancy Kriplen is a biographer and journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Smithsonian, Bloomberg.com, Discover and other publications. She worked on the editorial staff of TIME in New York and Scripps-Howard's Indianapolis Times. Her biographies include Dwight Davis: The Man and the Cup (about the American tennis legend); J. Irwin Miller: The Shaping of an American Town (Columbus, Indiana); and John D. MacArthur: Empire Builder, Reluctant Philanthropist, Relentless Adversary, the subject of this ESU Happy Hour presentation. Nancy will be interviewed by her daughter Madelyn Kriplen Nasse.

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