caption death_date death_place birth_place birth_date image article_title name
charles melville hays 15 april 1912 north atlantic , '' rms titanic '' rock island , illinois 16 may 1856 charles_melville_hays . jpg charles melville hays
 charles melville hays
charles melville hays

charles melville hays -lrb- may 16 , 1856 -- april 15 , 1912 -rrb- was the president of the grand trunk railway .
he began working in the railroad business as a clerk at the age of 17 and quickly rose through the ranks of management to become the general manager of the wabash , st. louis and pacific railway .
he became vice-president of that company in 1889 and remained as such until 1896 when he became general manager of the grand trunk railway -lrb- gtr -rrb- of canada .
hays left gtr for a short time to serve as the president of the southern pacific railway company but returned to gtr after one year .
as vice-president and general manager of gtr he is credited with keeping the company from bankruptcy .
in 1909 , he became the president of gtr and all its consolidated lines , subsidiary railroads , and steamship companies .
he was known for his philanthropy and received the order of the rising sun , third class , from the emperor of japan in 1907 .
hays is credited with the formation of the grand trunk pacific railway -lrb- gtp -rrb- , a dream he had to create a second transcontinental railroad within the borders of canada .
he is also blamed for the insolvency of both the gtr and the gtp .
he died before his dream was complete as he perished at sea in the sinking of the rms `` titanic '' .
before the ship collided with an iceberg , hays made a statement that was prophetic of the disaster .
his body was recovered and he was buried in montreal .
he was survived by his wife and four daughters .
