Floyd R. Newman

Floyd Roy Newman (1890 – October 10, 1990), known to his friends as F. R. or Flood, was an American oil man, founder of the Allied Oil Company, Inc. of Cleveland, and its senior partner and secretary-treasurer until it merged with the Ashland Oil and Refining Company and he joined the Board of Ashland.

For the saxophonist, see Floyd Newman.

An alumnus of Cornell University, Newman became one of its major benefactors, establishing four professorships and other facilities.

Early life

Born in Casnovia, Michigan, in 1890, Newman spent his early years in Churchville, New York. He entered Cornell University in 1908, majoring in chemistry and spending much of his time on athletics. In February 1912 he skated the whole length of the frozen Cayuga Lake, just under forty miles. He was a member of the Bandhu Fraternity, later Phi Kappa Tau, and graduated in the Class of 1912.[1][2]

Career

On leaving Cornell, Newman became a Standard Oil Company trainee and was posted to Shanghai, China. He joined the Shanghai Volunteer Corps and was promoted to first lieutenant. During World War I, Newman was commissioned into the United States Army and was an organizer of petroleum distribution to US armed forces in France.[1] In 1919, he was still a serving officer and was in charge of the gasoline distribution for the Third Army, the Army of Occupation.[3]

In 1925 Newman was a founding partner of the Allied Oil Company, Inc. of Cleveland, and was its secretary-treasurer until 1948, when it was taken over by the Ashland Oil and Refining Company.[1] He then became a director of Ashland.[4]

Philanthropist

Newman was a significant benefactor of Cornell, giving it millions of dollars which paid for a variety of buildings, endowed professorships, and supported the university's geological sciences faculty and its athletics facilities.[5]

The Floyd R. Newman Laboratory for Nuclear Studies was built in 1947 and contained Cornell's first particle accelerator.[6] In 1949, Newman gave the university one million dollars for its nuclear research,[7] and in October 1951 he was elected as a Trustee of Cornell, succeeding Franklin W. Olin, founder of the Olin Corporation.[4] In 1963 Newman donated the Helen Newman Hall, on the Cornell North Campus, a building of 65,000 square feet serving as the women's gymnasium and housing the women's physical education program, in honor of his wife.[8] An endowment of the post of Helen Newman Director of Women's Athletics was also named for her. Among Newman's other gifts to Cornell were four endowed professorships.[9]

In 1982, the 150-acre Arboretum of the Cornell Botanic Gardens was named in Newman's honor.[10] He was an emeritus trustee and volunteer leader at Cornell until his death in 1990, aged almost 100, and left a trust for his daughter which endowed the position of Elizabeth Newman Wilds Director of the Botanic Gardens.[9]

Notes
  1. “Newman, Floyd R. (Floyd Roy), 1890-1990”, snaccooperative.org, accessed April 18, 2021
  2. “Floyd Roy Newman” in Cornell University Announcements, Volume 4, Issue 16 (Cornell University, 1913), p. 772
  3. The Cornell Alumni News, Volume 21 (1919), p. 197: “Floyd Roy Newman '12 is in charge of the gasoline distribution for the entire Third Army, the Army of Occupation. His “gasoline special” consists of nine tank cars of gasoline, thirteen cars of lubricating oil, five cars of pumps and material, two cars of men, and his Pullman”.
  4. ”Board Elects F. R. Newman New Trustee” in The Cornell Daily Sun, Volume 68, Number 24, October 13, 1951
  5. Alfonso A. Narvaez, “Floyd Newman, 99, Oil Chief Who Gave Millions to Cornell”, The New York Times, October 18, 1990
  6. 2029 - NEWMAN, FLOYD D. LABORATORY – Facility Information, Cornell University, archived March 2, 2012
  7. “CORNELL RECEIVES GIFT OF $1,000,000; F. R. Newman, a Cleveland Oil Industrialist, Donates Sum for Nuclear Laboratory”, The New York Times, February 23, 1949: “ITHACA, N. Y., Feb. 22 - Floyd R. Newman, Cleveland petroleum industrialist, has made a gift of securities estimated to be worth about $1,000,000 to the Cornell University Laboratory of Nuclear Studies, it was announced here tonight.”
  8. 2616-HELEN NEWMAN HALL Facility Information, cornell.edu, archived September 8, 2006, accessed April 18, 2021
  9. NEWMAN ARBORETUM BENEFACTOR: F. R. Newman’s Transformative Gifts, cornellbotanicgardens.org, December 6, 2018, accessed April 17, 2021
  10. Arboretum and Gardens, Cornell University, accessed April 18, 2021
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