Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1910-01-04
D. 0. MILLS, NOTED
PH|LANTHROP|ST,
DIES SUDDENLY
Heart Disease Kills Financier
and Founder of Famous Hoo
tells in California.
MRS. WHlTELAW REID ONLY
RELATIVE AT DEATH=BED
Son, with Wife, Had Just Left
for East, Believing Fathers
Health Excellent.

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 4.-Darius
Ogden Mills, philanthropist and finan-
cie-. father of Mrs. Whitelaw Reid,
wife of the ambassador to Great
Britain, director in many corporations,
is dead today at his winter home near
here of heart disease. He was s4 years
old.
Death came. almost without warning
after a period Of better health than
Mr.. Mills had enjoyed in several
years. Mrs. Reid was the only child
at his bedside when the end came.
his son.. Ogden Mills and his wife
having started for New York yester-
day, believing the aged financier 10 be
in excellent condition.
Mr.. Mills was born in West Salem,
.yestchester county, n. Y, in 1925. He
was educated at North Salem and ut
Mount Pleasant Academy. Sing Sing.
N. Y. Starting his business career as
a clerk in New York city he became
cashier of the Merchants Bank of Erie
county at Buffalo, In 1s47. When the
gold excitement arose Mr.. Mills came
TO California. arriving in 1849. to take,
from the start, large part In the de-
velopment of the Golden State. lie
first founded the d. o. Mills Bank in
sacramento, and, in 1864, became
president of the Bank of California.
which post he held till 1867. When this
Institution became insolvent, in 1878,
Mr. Mills again took the reins and
placed it once more on a sound basis.
He was president of the Bank of New
York, the Morton Trust Company and
the United States Trust Company. He
was trustee OF the Atlantic Steam
ship Company, chairman of the Ford
ham Home for Incurables, a trustee OF
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the
Carnegie Institute of Washington. Lick
Observatory and the American Geology
Society. besides helping to organize
and guide many other philanthroplc
organizations Mr.. Mills had promi-
nent hand in the building of the
Southern Pacific and for many years
was a member of its directorate.
NEW YORK. Jan. a.--News of the
sudden death Of D. Ogden Mills, at his
California winter home. was received
with sorrow here, where he had so long
been prominent. Mr. Mills's withdrawal
from business and active interest in
his various philanthropic enterprises
because OF ill-health, had somewhat
prepared his friends for the sad news,
although fatal termination of his ILL
ness at this time was not expected.
Although his active participation in
business affairs had ceased. Mr. NILS,
I'D to the time of his death, remained a
director in many corporations. His
railroad interests included the holding
of directorship in the New York Gen.
trail and Lake Shore companies, and he
held q place as we'll in the directorates
of several New York banks and trust
companies and numerous industrial en-
terprfses
One of Mr. Mills's notable phil
anthropic enterprises was the estab-
lishment of the chain of hotels, the
nome of which is familiar the country
over as the mills hotels" These ho-
tells, of which there are three in this
city, were intended as places. equipped
and maintained In efficient and modern
fashion, where meals and lodging could
be furnished respectable men at nomi-
nal prices. Mr.. Mills always declared
that he did not class this enterprise as
'.phiIanthropic, maintaining that il
sAyas sagacious public spirit that
prompted him in establishing them.
The hotels have proved self-sup.
porting. Not long ago Mr.. Mills
decided them and the adjacent
dwellings, to three trustees-himself
his son. Ogden Mills. and his daughter
AIRS. whitelaw Reid-mahng stipula'
tions as to succession in membership
{ III the board which will take the worl
on indefinitely.