Evening star., 1939-12-27
Pneumonia Ends
Success Saga Of
HenryL. Doherty
Cities Service Head Was
Also Engineer, Inventor
And Florida Developer

WIZ
BY the Associated Press.
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 27.-Death
has ended the success saga Of Henry
L. Doherty-the poor boy who real
lied an American dream of busi-
ness empire. The 69-year-old head
Of the far-fung Cities Service Co.
died last night of bronchial pneu-
monia.
At his bedside ip Temple Uni
versity Hospital were his wife. Mrs.
Grace Doherty, and w. A. Jones,
executive vice president of Cities
Service.
From Washington President
Roosevelt sent message of SYM
pathy to Mrs Doherty.
Mr.. Doherty had contributed much
time and money to the balls given
every January 30 in celebration of
President Roosevelt's birthday to
raise funds to combat infantile
paralysis.
Plagued for years by arthritis, Mr..
Doherty had been undergoing one
of periodic treatments for the con-
dition. His physician, DR.. Charles
Leonard Brown, said he was strick-
en- with pneumonia two weeks ago.
With zeal characteristic Of his
climb to the pinnacle, the white
haired tinancier ignored the handi-
cap of illness to forge still more ac-
complishments. To the very end,
he submerged personal feelings to
immerse himself in the promotion
of various researches which close as
sociates described as among the most
significant of his career.
Mr.. Dohertys fortunes had their
inception in Columbus, Ohio, where
he was born May Is. 1870-a news
boy at 10, gas company manager
at 20, and so up the scale to mil
lions at 40.
Life Began at 40.
1t was at 40 that life for Mr..
Doherty began in the larger sense,
for in 1910 he launched Cities Serv-
ice. Under his guidance, it -four
ished into an enterprise of inter-
national dimensions BY 1929 its
assets in utilities and oil holdings
totaled more than a billion dollars.
AS an indication of its size, the
concern owned 1900 producing oil
wells.
The sweeping character of his
projects aroAsed opposition that re-
suited in numerous litigation. One
Of the most extensive of these was
in 1896 when minority stockholders
OF Cities Service contended Mr..
Doherty and some of his close
friends had profited personally by
$50, 100000 by manipulating shares
OF the company while their market
value was sinking by $4,000 900.
They demanded an accounting.
The suit came to trial in jan
uary, 1887, but was halted by Mr..
Dohertys offer to settle for $780,
600, provided this step was approved
by the majority of stockholders. Mr..
Doherty's offer came while he was
Ill at Temple Hospital.
Stockholders approved the offer
March Is, 1887. but when the case
was taken up in court the approval
vote was challenged on grounds of
coercion. This was denied by Mr..
Doherty.
Mr.. Doherty remained a bachelor
until past his 58th birthday. He
was married December 81, 1928, in
Toronto, Canada, to the widow of
Percy Frank Eames, former Official
Of the International Harvester.
The utilities magnate reached out
into other fields. The Miami Bilt-
more Hotel, built at Coral Gables
during the Florida boom at q cost
OF Sl0,000,000, was Mr.. Doherty s
chief property at the winter resort.
Engineer As Well.
Aside from the arduous RESPONSE
bilities of finance-three years ago
he was listed as a director of 95
corporations and president of 81 of
them-Mr. Dohertys engineering
proWess won him fame in the realm
of science
He began to show his genius while
in his early 20s, but was regarded as
an idealist and dreamer when he
told the manufactured and natural
gas industries that many of their
methods were wrong. He received
similar reception when he urged
his ideas on the petroleum and elec-
trical industries, but he had the
satisfaction of living to see many of
his suggestions adopted as standard
practices. He was, for example, one
of the first large producers in the
midcontinent field to employ geolo-
gists to survey potential oil-bearing
areas.
The one-time chief engineer for
a gas company he ultimately abb
sorbed in his corporation network
perfected a cooler system for pre-
pairing artificial gas, new distillation
methods for petroleum and sundry
other devices.
In 1898 he was awarded the first
Beall Cold Medal by the American
Gas Light Association for his pa
per on Gas for Fuel" He has
long been recognized as one of the
leaders in the United States on
gas and electric arts and indus
tries and a leader in a movement
for oil conservation through means
of unit operation Of pools under
Federal control.
Held Many Patents.
He was the patentee Of many
combustion processes and apparatus
and was the originator of many
standard practices in the industry
In 1880 the Franklin Institute
awarded him the Walton Clark
Medal "in consideration of his out.
standing and valuable work in de-
veloping of the manufactured gas
industry